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Order on stirs at House premises fans row
A top Lok Sabha official said that in the upcoming monsoon session – which begins on Monday -- if Opposition MPs want to stage a dharna at the Gandhi statue, no one will be stopped.
New Delhi: A political row erupted on Friday over a Rajya Sabha circular that prohibited members from any demonstration, dharna, strike, fast or religious ceremonies in the Parliament premises, marking the second such controversy in two days between the government and Opposition.
Officials from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha pointed out that similar circulars were issued before every session, including when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power, but failed to douse Opposition anger. HT found similar notices dating back till 2009.
It was a virtual replay of Thursday, when a row broke out over a list of “unparliamentary words” issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat with the Opposition calling it an attempt to muzzle free speech by banning certain expressions, and House authorities pointing out that no such ban existed and that such lists have been issued for decades.
The Rajya Sabha circular ahead of the monsoon session said, “Members cannot use the precincts of the Parliament House for any demonstration, dharna, strike, fast, or for the purpose of performing any religious ceremony. Kind cooperation of members is solicited.”
Congress’s communication chief Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Vishguru’s latest salvo –D(h)arna mana hai!”. Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien quickly tweeted in reply, “Every year they issue these notices in #Parliament bulletins. Demonstrations, dharnas, strikes, fast are part of legitimate parliamentary tactics to register protest. No stopping us. However, can you please update me. Didn’t SOMEONE conduct a religious ceremony recently?” He appeared to refer to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation in a traditional puja during the unveiling of a bronze statue of the Ashok Stambh, the national emblem, atop the new Parliament building.
Parliament authorities dismissed the charges.
“This is a routine matter and such circulars are issued before every session,” said Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla. He requested MPs and political parties to not use routine parliamentary information for creating news and requested that the dignity of Parliament as an institution be maintained.
A top Lok Sabha official said that in the upcoming monsoon session – which begins on Monday -- if Opposition MPs want to stage a dharna at the Gandhi statue, no one will be stopped.
Officials also pointed out that similar circular were issued when the Congress was in power. But while Rajya Sabha circular uses the term “members cannot use”, the similar circular issued by Lok Sabha from time to time says, “members are requested not to use…”
On Thursday, a similar controversy broke out over a document titled “Unparliamentary Expressions” issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat. It was a compilation of “references to words and expressions” expunged in Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha and state legislatures last year, and also words and expressions disallowed in some Commonwealth parliaments before that in a particular context. The list has been issued regularly for decades. But a number of Opposition parties, such as the Congress, Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, compared the list to a gag order and alleged that it only contained words that opponents used to describe the central government.
Birla later clarified that no words were banned, and that members were free to express themselves on the floor of the House.
