- 20 minutes ago
In a significant parliamentary development, the opposition has moved a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alleging bias and the silencing of dissent.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Hi there, you're watching NewsTrack with me, Maria Shakil.
00:03The Parliament has become the battleground for a rare and explosive showdown.
00:08The opposition has strained its guns on the Speaker of the Lok Sabha,
00:11moving a no-confidence motion against Ombirla,
00:15an extraordinary step that questions not just procedure, but propriety.
00:20The charge is bias, partisanship and silencing dissent.
00:25And as politics heats up, the Speaker has responded with a move of his own,
00:28stepping away from House proceedings, invoking morality over mandate.
00:33So is this about accountability or optics?
00:36A moral stand or a political standoff?
00:39Here's a report on the high drama that unfolded inside and outside the sunsets today.
00:45And then I bring in the guests.
00:46The Maniniya Sadassiyas of the Sunsets have done what they wanted.
01:04The opposition has turned its attack towards the Speaker.
01:06A notice was submitted to move a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlah.
01:15The motion was backed by 118 MPs and accused the Speaker of bias and partisanship.
01:21It also alleged denial of speaking time and selective action against opposition MPs.
01:25At the centre of the opposition's charge is Rahul Gandhi.
01:32Opposition parties have claimed that the Speaker did not allow the leader of opposition to complete his speech during the motion of time.
01:38He is not yielding. He is not yielding.
01:40Sir, sir, he is not yielding.
01:42However, one key detail stood out.
01:47Rahul Gandhi did not sign the no-confidence notice.
01:50Sources say the Congress felt it would be inappropriate for the leader of opposition to move a no-confidence motion against the Speaker.
01:58The party cited the dignity of parliamentary democracy.
02:02Signs of discord within the opposition alliance have also become visible.
02:06The TMC chose to stay away from the motion.
02:09Instead of trying to flex muscles, we want to give an opportunity to the chair.
02:14If our issues are not addressed in three days, then we can always move a no-confidence motion against the Speaker.
02:20So there is no problem.
02:21So there is no place for ambiguity or doubt.
02:26Meanwhile, Speaker Om Birla, who positions himself as a stickler for rules, chose to exercise the morality card.
02:35Deciding to stay away from the proceedings of Lok Sabha till the trust motion is pending against him.
02:39Although the rules do not require such a step, Om Birla stays adamant.
02:44Indicating that even an appeal from the government or the opposition will not make him budge.
02:48It is likely that the motion to remove the Speaker will be taken up on March 9th, the first day of the second part of the budget session.
02:57On that day, 50 MPs will be asked to raise their hands to support the motion.
03:02After that, the acting chair may initiate a discussion.
03:05But remember, it all started here.
03:11On Feb 5th, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla made a stunning claim inside the House.
03:16The Speaker said he had advised Prime Minister Narendra Modi to not come and reply to the motion of thanks.
03:22Why?
03:23Because he said women Congress MPs had gathered near the PM's chair and that an untoward incident could have occurred.
03:29A serious charge.
03:32One that sends shockwaves across Parliament.
03:37The power of the Sadhan has not kept up to me, but he has saved my head and saved the Sadhan from his head.
03:46I am proud of the Pradhan Manthi Ji for this.
03:50I am proud of the Pradhan Manthi Ji.
03:51Earlier, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister released a video from inside the Lok Sabha.
03:58The video dated Feb 4th shows women Congress MPs protesting near the Prime Minister's seat.
04:04The images were recorded just minutes before Prime Minister Modi was scheduled to speak.
04:09Kiran Rajuju claimed that the visuals exposed a serious security threat.
04:13They crossed the bench where Honourable Prime Minister sits and they went beyond towards the Treasury side.
04:24So the BJP women MPs have lodged a complaint.
04:27Let us see how Honourable Speaker takes action.
04:32The Congress strongly rejected the allegation.
04:36The party said its MPs were only waving posters at the Treasury benches and called the claims exaggerated and baseless.
04:43The opposition does not have the numbers.
05:04It simply wants to embarrass the Speaker.
05:07But Speaker Om Birla is determined to make no-trust motion Brahmastri backfire.
05:13With Piyush Mishra, Aishwarya Paliwal and Moshmi Singh, Bureau Report, India Today.
05:21And joining me first on the show is Member of Parliament of the Congress Party, Manikam Tagore.
05:27Mr. Tagore, I want to understand from you, given the kind of tension which is playing out between the two sides on the floor of the House,
05:33there has been hardly any work of functioning of Parliament.
05:36Now it looks like the opposition is really keen to push for this no-confidence motion against the Speaker.
05:44Isn't this something extraordinary?
05:50We need to understand that the motion to thank the Honourable President was started.
05:57The discussion started on 2nd February.
06:03And the House, we all thought that the House will be allowed to function.
06:07But the government's attitude towards the opposition is the issue now.
06:11The opposition leader was not allowed to speak.
06:14Two days we pleaded for he was not able to speak.
06:18Then the suspension of the MPs followed.
06:21Then the disruption continued.
06:25And then the Honourable Prime Minister's speech was not there in Parliament, in Lok Sabah.
06:35And then the allegation on the women MPs followed.
06:38Then the next week started.
06:40We went to the Speaker again.
06:42And we pleaded with the Speaker that the leader of opposition must be allowed to have his views in the floor of the House.
06:53We all know that in democracy, leader of opposition, as well as the government, both of them have the right to speak.
07:01And particularly the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, as well as the leader of opposition,
07:04whenever they want to speak, that has been a tradition in the Parliament.
07:08It may be Sushwa, Swaraj, or it may be anybody's type.
07:10All this thing has been broken.
07:12Now, coming to your point, your question that why it has come to this level,
07:17because we wanted the Parliament to function and debate today also.
07:21Today also we wanted, yesterday the Parliamentary Affairs Minister announced in television,
07:27in your television also, it has been shown that they don't want,
07:31if Parliament is not, the opposition is not doing, disturbing the House,
07:36we will pass the budget without discussion.
07:38So, their attitude is that they don't want discussion in Parliament.
07:43They don't want questions to be asked in Parliament.
07:46Mr. Tukwar, since the Speaker has decided that he will not sit on the chair,
07:50do you see this as him taking a high moral stand?
07:54The fact is that any effort at no confidence against the chair doesn't get through.
07:59We have seen that in the past.
08:01Even you don't, you know, the fact is you don't have the numbers to ensure that the Speaker is impeed.
08:06Then what really is the messaging behind this?
08:08It is very simple that when you don't allow the opposition to have its voice,
08:15then the opposition voice are not going to be switched off.
08:19The mics are going to be switched off.
08:20It is going to be a monkey bath of Mr. Modi and Kiran Reju and Amisha Ji.
08:26We will not allow that to happen.
08:28We are 240 MPs from the opposition.
08:31We want, budget is happening now.
08:33Budget discussion is happening.
08:34We said the thing that we will move on a no confidence motion against Speaker
08:39because then we will allow, we will ask the budget to be depleted
08:42because we know that the government will be,
08:45will not have any other option to allow the Parliament to function.
08:48See tomorrow, Mr. Rahul Gandhi will speak in tomorrow.
08:51They will not allow him to speak tomorrow.
08:53That I will challenge it because the government don't want the leader of opposition
08:56to speak in the Parliament.
08:58That's the problem here we are facing.
09:00We are fighting a different kind of battle.
09:01We are working with all the India Alliance.
09:05We are very clear that the Parliament is being,
09:07they want to silence the leader of opposition
09:09and they don't want the leader of opposition to speak in the Parliament.
09:12That's the problem here.
09:14And the government is continuously doing this.
09:17We will fight it out.
09:18We are fighting in that, in this battle in an organized way.
09:22Okay, let me, Manikam Tikkar, really appreciate your time.
09:25Let me bring in former BJP MP and senior BJP leader,
09:29JVL Narasimha Rao, who's joining us now.
09:31JVL, questions being raised by the opposition,
09:34that this chaos and pandemonium is essentially a narrative
09:37which is being created by the Treasury benches,
09:39because you are running away from uncomfortable questions
09:42being raised by Rahul Gandhi,
09:44particularly with regards to China issue
09:47and also on the trade deal with the United States.
09:50Maria, this is absolutely absurd,
09:58because from the time this session began,
10:02the opposition, and particularly led by Congress Party,
10:08I think they, in a predetermined manner,
10:12in a premeditated manner,
10:14I think they have decided to disrupt the functioning
10:17of this session of Parliament.
10:21If they really, indeed, wanted any debate or discussion,
10:25this is not the manner in which opposition would have
10:28and should have behaved.
10:30And now, when confronted with this video,
10:33which clearly shows how the women members of Parliament
10:37from the Congress Party and opposition parties,
10:41how they laid the seats to the seat
10:44where the Honourable Prime Minister sits in the House,
10:47I think it's a clear-cut attempt by the opposition party
10:51not only to disrupt functioning of Parliament,
10:56to disallow Prime Minister from coming and functioning
10:59and conducting his duties as the Leader of the House in Lok Sabha,
11:04I think there is an attempt to create drama,
11:09to create, to make Parliament dysfunctional.
11:13I think if any opposition wants the House to run
11:16in an orderly manner,
11:18they would not create disruption,
11:20they would not create ruckus.
11:22And here, I think they have crossed all limits
11:25of not only parliamentary decency,
11:29but going to the seat of the Prime Minister,
11:32blocking his way and attempting to do something
11:35very unprecedented is, I think,
11:38a very, very, very, very big law
11:41in parliamentary democracy.
11:42Okay.
11:43It's really unfortunate.
11:45And the Congress Party must apologize.
11:47Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi,
11:49they must all apologize to the people of this country
11:52for the manner in which they conducted,
11:55the manner in which they stooped so low
11:59to really disrupt the functioning of Parliament.
12:02Today's video is actually a slap in the face of the Congress Party.
12:05The other reading can be,
12:07and I'm here going to quote your senior party leader
12:12and former leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha,
12:14late Arunjaitli,
12:15who had famously said
12:16that the duty of running the House
12:18is with Treasury benches.
12:20When you accuse the opposition
12:22that they are making the Parliament dysfunctional,
12:25what has been done by the Treasury benches
12:28to ensure that the House functions?
12:30Have you reached out to the opposition?
12:32Have you made efforts to ensure that the House functions?
12:34I think there is,
12:38every day there is an attempt.
12:41Usually,
12:42in the office of the Speaker of the,
12:44Honourable Speaker of the Lok Sabha,
12:47there are,
12:48there is a business advisory committee,
12:51council that meets.
12:53There is always a communication
12:55with the opposition parties,
12:56but it needs both the hands to clap together.
13:00If the opposition is hell-bent
13:02on disrupting Parliament
13:03and in disobeying the orders of the chair
13:07and in functioning in a disorderly manner,
13:11I think there is no way
13:12the House can function.
13:15If the intent of the opposition
13:17is not to let the House to function,
13:19however much the Treasury benches try,
13:24I think it's not going to give you the right results.
13:27The government has made this appeal,
13:29even before the session began,
13:31Honourable Prime Minister appealed
13:33to the opposition parties,
13:35to every section of the House,
13:37Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha,
13:39and asked them to come forward
13:40to debate, discuss.
13:42I think at a time when India
13:44has been signing
13:45certain very important free trade agreements,
13:48which are making international use,
13:51India's emergence as a global power
13:54is being recognised by all over the world.
13:57The Congress is certainly not happy
13:59with that positive story emanating from India,
14:02and they want possibly India
14:04to be painted in a negative way,
14:07and they wanted to use the House
14:09as an occasion to create
14:11certain disorderly seen,
14:13which portray India
14:14in a very negative light internationally.
14:16And one must thank Honourable Speaker
14:18of the House
14:19for preventing
14:20such a historic wrong
14:24being committed
14:24on the floor of the House
14:26in Lok Sabha.
14:28Former BJP MP J.V.L. Narsimara,
14:30I really appreciate your time.
14:31Let me bring in PDT Achari now.
14:33He's the former Secretary General
14:35of the 14th and the 15th Lok Sabha.
14:37So he certainly understands
14:39the functioning of the Parliament
14:41and the proceedings
14:41much better than most of us.
14:43Mr. Achari,
14:45there are a lot of allegations
14:46and charges which are flowing,
14:47particularly from the Treasury benches.
14:48A new set of visuals
14:49and I'll ask the producer
14:50to put that on our television screen.
14:52It's very disturbing, of course,
14:53which is seen as opposition MPs
14:55carrying placards
14:57and coming near the Prime Minister's chair,
14:59that is the chair of the leader of the House,
15:02when he was, of course, not there.
15:04Treasury benches are claiming
15:06that there was a larger plan.
15:08How do you see it?
15:11Well, there is nothing to prevent,
15:15there is no rule which prevents
15:16the members of Parliament
15:18from approaching the Prime Minister
15:20when he is in the House.
15:25Because that kind of a movement,
15:28you know, is not prohibited.
15:30Inside the House,
15:31people can move from one place to another.
15:34In fact, many people
15:35used to go to the Prime Minister's seat
15:39and when the Prime Minister is present
15:41and would like to have a talk with him,
15:45they will just go to him,
15:47say something and come back.
15:49That kind of a freedom is there.
15:51It has always been there.
15:53I don't know whether there is any restriction now.
15:56That I do not know.
15:57But otherwise, it has been.
16:00Like this only,
16:02Mbese are free to move around in the House
16:03and in fact,
16:05not only inside the House,
16:07but in the lobbies
16:08and outer lobbies
16:09and inner lobbies
16:09and Central Hall
16:10and wherever.
16:12They are free to move around
16:13at all these places.
16:15I do not exactly understand why
16:17or what happened
16:18and why such an issue has come up.
16:21Because it has never come up
16:23in this manner earlier
16:24at any time
16:25that I can remember.
16:27Because I have spent about 40 years
16:29in the Parliament.
16:31I have never come across
16:32such an allegation
16:35that women Mbese
16:39were standing around
16:41the Prime Minister's seat
16:42in order to do him some harm
16:45or something.
16:46I don't know.
16:47I have no comments to make
16:48on that particular thing.
16:50But I can say in general
16:51that there is nothing to,
16:53there is no restriction
16:54on the movement of Mbese
16:56inside the House.
16:58Okay, Mr. Achari,
17:00let's look at the
17:01no-confidence motion
17:01which has been brought
17:02against the Lok Sabha speaker.
17:04Mr. Birla himself
17:05has decided to recuse himself.
17:07Would you say,
17:08and you know,
17:08even last year we saw
17:10that entire proceeding
17:11which began against
17:12the Rajya Sabha chairman then,
17:14Mr. Dhankar.
17:16These are constitutional posts
17:17that are now being seen
17:19as partisan.
17:21They are expected
17:22to be bipartisan.
17:24Now they are certainly
17:25becoming collateral
17:26because of the tension
17:27which is happening
17:28between the Treasury benches
17:29and opposition.
17:34Well, you know,
17:36Speaker's office
17:37is a very,
17:40it's an exalted office.
17:42Speaker represents
17:43the collective will
17:46of the House.
17:47Speaker is a symbol
17:48of the dignity
17:49of the House.
17:50And Speaker is respected
17:51by all.
17:52although he belongs
17:53to a particular
17:53political party,
17:55but once he becomes
17:56a Speaker,
17:57he rises above
17:58the party considerations.
18:01He rises above
18:02the party
18:02to which he belonged.
18:04That is how,
18:06that is what we expect
18:07from the Speaker.
18:09And then the Speaker,
18:11you know,
18:11should,
18:12is supposed to,
18:13required to conduct
18:14himself
18:14in a very impartial manner.
18:16he has
18:17no sides
18:20to take care of.
18:21He has,
18:22every side
18:23is equal to him.
18:24And he has to conduct
18:25the proceedings
18:26in accordance
18:26with the Constitution
18:27and the rules
18:29and also the conventions
18:30of the House.
18:32There the entire House
18:34should assist him.
18:35That is how
18:36the Parliament runs.
18:38And then,
18:39as a Speaker,
18:40presiding officer
18:41of the House,
18:41where
18:43members of Parliament
18:44have
18:45freedom of speech
18:46given by the Constitution.
18:49Article 105
18:50gives them
18:52a freedom
18:53in the House.
18:54They can say
18:55whatever they want
18:56and in whatever
18:57manner they want.
18:59Only thing is
19:00that it is subject
19:01to the rules.
19:02But that doesn't mean
19:03that
19:05rules can negate
19:06the freedom
19:07that has been given
19:08by the Constitution.
19:09A rule is there
19:10to regulate
19:11certain aspects
19:12of the
19:13expression
19:15of this
19:16or exercise
19:17of this freedom.
19:18Certain aspects
19:19of the exercise
19:20of this freedom.
19:21And
19:22it shall not
19:23eclipse
19:24the freedom.
19:27And therefore,
19:27it is the duty
19:28of the Speaker
19:29as the
19:30umpire
19:31to ensure
19:33that members
19:33of Parliament
19:34are able
19:35to exercise
19:36this freedom,
19:37which means
19:38they are able
19:38to speak freely
19:40in the House.
19:41and
19:42Speaker
19:44has a duty
19:45to ensure
19:46that the freedom
19:46of expression
19:47or freedom
19:48of speech
19:48in the House
19:49of the members
19:50is protected.
19:52When the opposition
19:53feels
19:54that that is not
19:56the case,
19:57then they have
19:58a grievance
19:58against the Speaker.
19:59in fact,
20:01that is when
20:03they resort
20:04to these
20:05moves,
20:07moving a
20:08no-confidence
20:09and all that.
20:09Normally,
20:11no-confidence
20:11is actually
20:12not strictly
20:13called no-confidence.
20:14It is
20:14a motion
20:15or a resolution
20:16for removal
20:16of the Speaker.
20:18They think of
20:19moving such a resolution
20:20only in extreme cases.
20:23In the past,
20:24of course,
20:24there have been
20:24many occasions
20:25when notices
20:26were given,
20:27but there are
20:28many occasions
20:29when the resolutions
20:30were not moved.
20:31But here,
20:34of course,
20:34there are two
20:35or three occasions
20:35when the resolutions
20:37were moved,
20:39defeated,
20:40and on many occasions,
20:42resolutions
20:42were not moved.
20:44They were withdrawn
20:44at the last minute
20:45because
20:46there is a 14-day period,
20:4914-day notice period.
20:51Yes.
20:52And 14-day notice period
20:53is meant
20:54for some kind of
20:58bipartisan discussion
20:59on this issue
21:03because nobody wants
21:04the Speaker
21:05to be pilloried
21:06in the House.
21:07Yes.
21:07What happens is
21:08when there is
21:09a resolution
21:10under discussion
21:11against a Speaker
21:12for the removal
21:13of the Speaker,
21:14then the members
21:15are free
21:15to criticize
21:18the Speaker,
21:18which otherwise
21:19they are not able
21:20to do in the House
21:21because nobody,
21:23when the Speaker
21:24gives a ruling,
21:26nobody has any right
21:27to challenge
21:28that ruling
21:28and nobody can criticize
21:30the Speaker's ruling
21:31either inside the House
21:32or outside the House,
21:34directly or indirectly.
21:36Okay.
21:36And then
21:36on every matter
21:37in the House,
21:38Speaker has the final word.
21:40That's right.
21:41Therefore,
21:42suppose the Speaker
21:43doesn't allow
21:44the Opposition
21:44to speak freely
21:46in the House
21:47and he virtually hobbles
21:51them,
21:52then a situation
21:55will come
21:55and they will have
21:56to do certain things.
21:59Okay.
21:59Mr. PDT Achadi,
22:00really appreciate
22:01your time.
22:02Of course,
22:02it remains to be seen
22:03that in this
22:03interim period
22:05of 14 days,
22:06whether the two sides,
22:08particularly the opposition
22:08and the Speaker's office,
22:10can come to some kind
22:11of a bipartisan discussion
22:13and this resolution
22:14is actually not moved.
22:15As you said,
22:16there have been
22:16only two occasions
22:17in the past.
22:18Resolution was moved
22:19and though
22:21it was rejected
22:22because the party
22:24which moved it,
22:24of course,
22:25which was the opposition
22:26in both the cases,
22:26did not have the numbers.
22:28That's all from me.
22:29Three more days
22:30for this session
22:32of the budget session
22:36to continue.
22:37Let's see what happens
22:38tomorrow and day after
22:39as well.
22:40Thanks so much for watching.
22:41We'll continue
22:41to track the story
22:42very closely.
Comments