Rahul lodges protest with Lok Sabha Speaker

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, lodging his strong protest for disallowing him to speak in the House on a matter of national security and terming it a “blot” on our democracy.
In his letter to Birla, the Congress leader noted that while speaking on the Motion on the President’s address on Monday, the Speaker had directed him to authenticate a magazine which he intended to refer to while raising the India-China conflict of 2020.
He said that as per long-standing convention, including repeated rulings of past Speakers, a member wishing to refer to a document in the House is required to authenticate it and affirm responsibility for its contents, which he did.
Thereafter, he said, the Speaker allows the member to quote or refer to the document and it becomes the responsibility of the government to respond, and the role of the Chair stands concluded.
“Preventing me from speaking in the Lok Sabha today not only violates this convention, but also gives rise to a serious concern that there is a deliberate attempt to prevent me, in my capacity as the Leader of the Opposition, from speaking on matters of national security.
“It is worth repeating that national security was a key part of the President’s Address, which requires a discussion in Parliament,” Gandhi told Birla in his letter.
He said as an impartial custodian of the House, it is the Speaker’s Constitutional and Parliamentary responsibility to safeguard the rights of every member, including those of the Opposition.
The right of the Leader of the Opposition and of each Member to speak is integral to our democracy, he noted.
“The refusal of these basic democratic rights has led to an unprecedented situation. For the first time in Parliamentary history, on the behest of the government, the Speaker has been forced to prevent the Leader of the Opposition from speaking on the President’s Address,” the Congress leader said in his letter.
“This is a blot on our democracy, against which I record my strongest protest,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Gandhi authenticated a copy of an article in the Lok Sabha which cited former army chief M M Naravane’s unpublished ‘memoir’ ,but it failed to end the impasse over the matter, leading to a brief adjournment.
With Gandhi insisting on raising the issue in the Lok Sabha, Chair Krishna Prasad Tenneti moved on to other Speakers and asked Harish Balayogi of the TDP, an NDA constituent, to speak on the President’s address after three opposition MPs refused to speak, showing solidarity with Gandhi.