Rahul Gandhi says he was not allowed to speak in Lok Sabha

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said he was repeatedly stopped from speaking in the Lok Sabha and asserted that the House represents the entire country, not one party. He made the remarks during a debate on a resolution against Speaker Om Birla

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said he was stopped from speaking in the Lok Sabha on multiple occasions and asserted that the House does not represent one party but the whole country.

Interjecting in a debate in the Lok Sabha on the resolution to remove Om Birla as Speaker, Gandhi alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has been compromised” and that everybody knows the result of that.

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Responding to BJP’s Ravi Shankar Prasad, who cited parliamentary procedures to say that the Leader of Opposition should measure his words carefully, especially on issues of national security, Gandhi said that his name was being raised during the debate multiple times and “vile things” were being said about him.

“The discussion here is about the democratic process and the role of the Speaker. But multiple times, my name is being raised and vile things are being said about me. This House is the expression of people’s will. This House does not represent one party; it represents the whole country,” the former Congress president said.

“Every time we get up to speak, we are stopped. The last time I spoke, I raised fundamental questions about the compromises made by our prime minister. Multiple times, I have been stopped from speaking. Just a few days ago, for the first time in India’s history, the Leader of Opposition was not allowed to speak during a debate,” Gandhi said.

The Congress leader said that the last time he spoke in Parliament, he raised the issue of “the prime minister being compromised”.

“I raised the issue of Mr (M M) Naravane, I raised the issue of Epstein, I raised the issue of Adani, and I was silenced. These issues are fundamental to the people of India,” he said.

“Our prime minister has been compromised; everybody knows the result of that,” Gandhi said.

Participating in the debate on the resolution against Birla, Ravi Shankar Prasad had earlier said that the motion to remove the Speaker from his post should not be weaponised to “satisfy” the ego of a leader.

He said it was painful that the House was discussing the resolution, which is the result of the ego of a leader.

Quoting Practice and Procedures of Parliament, Prasad said the Leader of Opposition should measure his words carefully, especially on issues of national security, and that he should eschew partisan politics. This had led to an uproar from the opposition.

Later, Dilip Saikia, who was chairing the proceedings, allowed Gandhi to respond to the allegations.