Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday expressing shock over how “a considerable portion” of his speech during the discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s address a day earlier was taken off from the House proceedings under the garb of expunction. He said taking off from records his remarks goes against the “very tenets of parliamentary democracy”.
Gandhi’s first major 62-minute speech as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha on Monday covered a wide sweep of hot-button issues. He spoke about the ethnic conflict in Manipur, the Agnipath scheme for recruitment to the armed forces, the farm crisis, inflation, the politics of hate, etc.
The address, which reflected the aggression that characterised many of Gandhi’s speeches during the 2024 national election campaign, prompted interventions from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and top ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh.
In his letter to Birla, Gandhi said the Chair has powers to expunge remarks specified in Rule 380 of Lok Sabha’s Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. Gandhi added the portions expunged from his speech do not come under the ambit of Rule 380. He enclosed relevant portions of uncorrected debates of Lok Sabha on Monday with his letter.
Gandhi maintained that he sought to convey the ground reality and the factual position. “Every member of the House who personifies the collective voice of people whom he or she represents has the freedom of speech as enshrined in Article 105(1) of the Constitution of India. It is every member’s right to raise people’s concerns on the floor of the House,” wrote Gandhi. “It is that right and in exercise of my obligations to the people of the country that I was exercising yesterday [Monday].”
{{/usCountry}}Gandhi maintained that he sought to convey the ground reality and the factual position. “Every member of the House who personifies the collective voice of people whom he or she represents has the freedom of speech as enshrined in Article 105(1) of the Constitution of India. It is every member’s right to raise people’s concerns on the floor of the House,” wrote Gandhi. “It is that right and in exercise of my obligations to the people of the country that I was exercising yesterday [Monday].”
{{/usCountry}}Gandhi said surprisingly only one word was expunged from ruling Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Anurag Thakur’s speech in the House even as it was full of allegations. “With due respect to your good self, this selective expunction defies logic. I request that the remarks expunged from the proceedings be restored.”