A no-confidence vote will be moved against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, sources told NDTV Monday morning, in a development that underlines the deep distrust between the ruling BJP and those in the opposition in every recent Parliament session.
In line with the rules the motion requires a 14-day notice period, which means it will likely be tabled in the second half of this budget session. The first half began January 28 and is scheduled to end on February 13. The second begins on March 9 and will run till April 2.
That distrust – expressed today by two adjournments in the opening half of the day, with the opposition insistent Congress MP Rahul Gandhi be allowed to speak – culminated in a ferocious showdown last week that led to Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelling his Lok Sabha speech.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor hit out at the government for appearing uninterested in the House. "I came to speak on the budget… but it looks like the government and Speaker are not interested in running the House. The Finance Minister was not even in the House… I think she knew…"
In the few minutes the Lok Sabha functioned this morning there were repeated disruptions by the opposition benches, still fuming over last week's showdown, in which the Speaker denied Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition, permission to read excerpts from an unpublished book by ex-Army chief General MM Naravane on the China border stand-off in Ladakh in 2020.
The opposition then had insisted he be allowed but senior BJP MPs, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah protested vehemently and were backed by Birla.
Gandhi was initially told unauthenticated documents could not become part of parliamentary record. He then submitted a note taking responsibility for the accuracy of the content but was still denied permission. That kicked off ferocious protests and repeated adjournments.
Last Tuesday eight Congress MPs, including Hibi Eden, Amarinder Raja Warring, and Manickam Tagor, were suspended for the remainder of the session. Warring spoke to NDTV and said, "Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to speak... even though he had authenticated the document... We protested against this and tore up the papers. Is this a crime demanding suspension?"
Those suspended MPs protested outside the main Parliament building today with a placard that read: "You can suspend us but you cannot silence us", while the BJP's SP Singh Baghel, the junior Fisheries Minister, countered, "The Speaker is a responsible person and made a statement about opposition MPs based on facts. In the past few sessions, we have seen opposition MPs become increasingly aggressive and willing to go to any lengths during protests."
Tension escalated all through last week.
On Thursday – the day the Prime Minister was to speak – the Lok Sabha was adjourned early amid vociferous protests and sloganeering. The Speaker said he closed the House for the day based on 'information opposition MPs could do something unexpected' to target the PM'.
This was after a handful of women MPs surrounded the Prime Minister's seat – he was not in it then – carrying placards to signal their discontent. The Congress' Priyanka Gandhi called the claim " absolute lies" but the claims of an 'attack' on the PM sparked another massive row.
"There is no question of anybody raising hands against the Prime Minister, trying to hurt him, or any such thing. It is absolutely wrong for anybody to say that there was any such plan. The Prime Minister is now hiding behind the Speaker…. he (the PM) doesn't have the guts…" she said.
Sources said the vote will highlight three points against Om Birla, starting with last week's controversy – i.e., Birla refusing to allow Rahul Gandhi to read from General Naravane's book.
The vote will also call out BJP MP Nishikant Dubey being allowed to read out from books – material that targeted the Congress and the Gandhi family – despite the Speaker's earlier ruling.
The TDP's Krishna Tenneti, in the Chair at the time, asked Dubey to stand down but the BJP MP refused to listen. The opposition has questioned the lack of action against Dubey.
And it will point to Om Birla's allegations against women opposition MPs.
BJP MP Anurag Thakur responded by slammed Rahul Gandhi for having "insulted democracy".
