Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha speech sees 14 cuts by Speaker. What ...
Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi speaks in the House during the ongoing Parliament session. (PTI)
Several references to Hinduism in the context of the BJP, three to two prominent industrialists that the Congress frequently mentions in context of the Narendra Modi government, two to the Agnipath scheme, and one each to the NEET row, Manipur and the Prime Minister specifically. These were among the 14 bits from Rahul Gandhi’s first speech as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, lasting around 100 minutes and interrupted frequently by the Treasury Benches, which were expunged by Speaker Om Birla late on Monday night.
The decision, which became public Tuesday, drew sharp criticism from the Congress, with Gandhi writing to Birla, questioning the decision and demanding that his remarks be restored in parliamentary records.
Incidentally, while Birla expunged Gandhi’s reference to Hinduism and the BJP, the Prime Minister’s rebuttal was not expunged. Interjecting during Gandhi’s speech, Modi said: “This is a very serious issue. To call the entire Hindu society violent is a serious issue.” Gandhi’s response to it was also expunged.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s repetition thrice of a word used by Gandhi to counter him was also expunged. The redacted remarks of Shah now read: “You cannot hide such a big incident by making noise. The Leader of the Opposition has categorically said that those who call themselves Hindu indulge in… I want to repeat. His sentence was that those who call themselves Hindu, they talk about…, indulge in….”
However, the following sentence by Shah that has gone in the records states: “He (Gandhi) perhaps does not know that there are crores of people in this country who call themselves Hindus proudly. Do they all talk about violence and indulge in violence?”
Gandhi’s comment about the absence of exchange of pleasantries between the Treasury and Opposition Benches, with specific mention of two Union ministers, was also expunged.
In February 2023, in a similar row, Speaker Birla had expunged several remarks made by Gandhi linking the Prime Minister to businessman Gautam Adani during his speech in the House.
Reacting to the Speaker’s move Tuesday, Gandhi said “truth could be expunged in the world of Modi j, but not in reality”.
“Whatever I had to say, I have said, and that is the truth. They can expunge as much as they want, but the truth will prevail,” he said.
In his letter to Birla, calling the removal of his remarks from records against the tenets of parliamentary democracy, Gandhi cited BJP MP Anurag Thakur’s speech Monday at the start of the Session. Gandhi claimed the speech was full of allegations but only one word was expunged from it. “This selective expunction defies logic.”
Acknowledging that the Chair was within its powers to expunge remarks from the proceedings of the House, Gandhi said the nature of these remarks was specified in Rule 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha.
“I am, however, shocked to note the manner in which considerable portions of my speech have been simply taken off from the proceedings under the garb of expunction,” he said.
“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,” Gandhi said. “It is that right and in exercise of my obligations to the people of the country, that I was exercising yesterday.”
