Suspensions, smears, silent protests: as Om Birla returns, flashback | News from the political pulse

On Thursday, the Congress wrote to Birla, saying his reference to a state of emergency in his acceptance speech on Wednesday was “deeply offensive”. “Making such a political reference by the Speaker is unprecedented in the annals of the history of Parliament,” wrote Congress general secretary KC Venugopal. He told reporters that Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi also raised the issue during his courtesy visit to Birla on Thursday.

With this, the spotlight has returned to Birla’s checkered record as Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha, even as he returns to presiding over a new Parliament. Here are the highs and lows of Birla’s previous tenure as president:

Suspension of deputies

In December last year, during the winter session of the 17th Lok Sabha, up to 100 opposition MPs were suspended. The suspensions were prompted by opposition protests demanding a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach at Parliament that month, where four people managed to jump into the wells and to release colored gas from the canisters.

As a result, 46 opposition members were suspended from the Rajya Sabha, making it the highest number of simultaneous suspensions in a parliamentary session.

The Congress, as the largest opposition party, saw the highest number of suspensions, with 41 of its MPs facing prosecution. After the Congress, the DMK, TMC and JD(U) faced the highest number of suspensions, 16, 13 and 11 respectively.

Birla had claimed at the time that it was wrong to link the suspensions to the security breach and that he had only taken steps to “preserve the sanctity of the House”.

Other sessions of Parliament during Birla’s previous term also saw the suspension of opposition MPs.

Adoption of bills

While parliamentary sessions were marked by routine ruckus, particularly over suspensions of MPs, Birla had largely allowed legislative work to continue, with important bills being passed without much debate. These include legislation to revise criminal laws, the Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill and the Second Capital Territory Laws (Amendment) Bill Delhi National Police (Special Provisions).

On Wednesday, after Birla’s election as President, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant recalled the passage of the Election Commissioners Appointment Bill in the last Lok Sabha. The Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (Amendment) Bill, 2021, and the Inland Ships Bill, 2021, were also passed in the Lok Sabha without debate as the opposition protested against the Pegasus dispute and farmers’ problems.

In November 2021, the farm repeal bill cleared both houses by voice vote without any discussion, despite demands from the Congress, TMC and DMK. The opposition also wanted a debate on the issues raised by farmers protesting against the three new farm laws, which were later withdrawn by the government.

Slander on the ground

In September last year, Ramesh Bidhuri, then a BJP MP, made derogatory remarks against his fellow Danish parliamentarian Ali (then a BSP member, now a Congress member), during a debate in Lok Sabha on Chandrayaan 3 mission.

Birla erased Bidhuri’s remarks and also issued a warning to her against repeating her actions. But it was only after Ali and other opposition MPs said Birla’s censure of Bidhuri was not enough that the matter was referred to the Privileges Committee. In doing so, Birla bludgeoned this with a complaint from BJP MP Nishikant Dubey that Ali had “incited” Bidhuri to commit communal insults.

In a letter to Birla, Ali expressed his anguish at being treated as a co-accused rather than someone who had been “wronged”.

Later, Bidhuri, who was given charge of a region in Rajasthan during the assembly elections in the state, did not appear before the Privileges Committee, expressing his inability to do so. Ali also wrote to Birla complaining about the functioning of the Privileges Committee, questioning its decision to allow Bidhuri to depose before it before him.

In November 2023, The Indian Express reported that the Privileges Committee had not met in over a month to consider the matter, with the next meeting still awaited. On the other hand, the ethics committee examining the allegations of favors against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra had completed its work and recommended her expulsion within 23 days.

In December 2023, Bidhuri apologized to the panel for his remarks.

When Birla stayed away

Before last year’s monsoon session, Birla announced that he would stay away from Lok Sabha proceedings and would only return if members behaved with “dignity”. At the time, the opposition and the BJP had frequently clashed in the House over the Manipur issue.

The BJP MPs argued that opposition members were the ones to blame and that Birla was upset that even ministers’ interventions were being “disrupted”.

Earlier, during the March 2020 Budget session, Birla had left the House for two consecutive days, saying she was “hurt” by the chaos in the House.

Give new MPs a chance

In his welcome address to Birla on the occasion of his re-election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said, “Under your leadership, the productivity of the 17th Lok Sabha was the highest in 25 years at 97 per cent. For this, not only the honorable members, but you also deserve special recognition.

In June 2023, The Indian Express reported that a review conducted by Birla after four years in office revealed a saving of Rs 801.46 crore in the budget allocated to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, thanks to “effective control and economy of expenditure”.

Hailing Birla for setting “new benchmarks for parliamentary traditions”, Union Minister and JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh on Wednesday explained how he led the House till midnight to give the opportunity for new deputies to express themselves and, on several occasions. , allowed only female members to speak during Zero Hour.