E-Paper
‘Routine process’: Om Birla on ‘no Dharna in Parliament’ notice, says 'there should be no politics'
His clarification comes after many opposition leaders hit out at the Centre over the recently released Parliament bulletin that bars them from any dharna, strike, fast, demonstration or for the purpose of performing any religious ceremony “in the precinct of the Parliament House”.
Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla on Friday said fresh guidelines on ‘unparliamentary’ behaviour - that ban 'demonstration, dharna, strike, (or) fast...' were part of “routine procedures” in place since 2009 and added “there should be no politics in this”, news agency ANI said. At a press briefing ahead of the Parliament's monsoon session, which begins Monday, he said, “Such guidelines and appeals are issued before every session. Therefore, it should be seen as a normal and routine procedure.” Such guidelines were issued earlier as well, he added.
“I urge all political parties not to accuse democratic institutions without facts.”
The speaker's clarification and appeal came hours after opposition leaders slammed the Centre over a Parliament bulletin that bars them from taking part in any dharna, strike, fast or demonstration “in the precinct of the Parliament House”.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh and his Trinamool Congress (TMC) colleague Derek O'Brien each took a swipe at the government over the dharna notice, which came a day after the Centre released a compilation of ‘unparliamentary’ words banned from both Houses of Parliament.
Ramesh tweeted: "Vishguru's latest salvo – D(h)arna mana hai!"
O'Brien responded saying strikes, fast, demonstrations and dharnas are part of legitimate parliamentary tactics to stage protest. "No stopping us," he declared.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar also reacted, saying leaders of all political parties would “sit together tomorrow in Delhi and discuss” this issue.
On Thursday, Birla offered his first clarification - amid a barrage of backlash from an opposition unhappy after being told they could not use several everyday words - and others coined specifically to critique the government - during the upcoming Parliament session.
The Speaker said that no word or phrase had been banned, but only expunged based on context.
“Members of Parliament have full freedom to express themselves in the floor of the House. The process of identifying unparliamentary words, based on words expunged in Parliament or assemblies, had started since 1954,” he added.
O'Brien called the list a “gag order”. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi called it a "New Dictionary for (a) New India”. TMC MP Mahua Moitra, the Shiv Sena's Priyanka Chaturvedi and the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Raghav Chadha also hit out at the Centre over the list.
According to the booklet, words such as 'Shakuni', 'dictatorial', 'khoon se kheti', 'taanashah', 'chelas', 'apmaan', 'gaddar' and 'kala bazaari', among others, have been banned.
Commonly-used words - 'abused', 'ashamed', 'corrupt', 'hypocrisy', and 'incompetent' have also been banned.
