Congress Expresses Shock Over Speaker Om Birla's Remark On Emergency (PHoto @ombirlakota)
Expressing “shock” over the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla‘s reference to the 1975 Emergency, a day after he took charge, Congress party’s general secretary in charge of organisation KC Venugopal today wrote a letter to the Speaker, noting the party’s “profound concern and anguish” in his statement while sitting in the constitutional position.
In the letter shared by the Congress in its X handle, the Alappuzha MP remarked that making such statements is “unprecedented in the annals of history of Parliament.”
“This coming from the Chair as one of the ‘first duties’ from a newly elected speaker assumes even graver proportions,” the Congress leader said, and called the speaker’s remark a “travesty of Parliament tradition.”
Om Birla was re-elected as as the Lok Sabha speaker on June 26. The speaker read out a resolution on the Indira Gandhi-era Emergency, blaming the grand old party for suppressing human rights and attacking the constitution. He also called for two-minute silence, sparking controversy from the opposition.
The development came a day after the oath taking was held in the 18th Lok Sabha in which several opposition MPs including Rahul Gandhi urged the speaker to run the house without bias while promising cooperation.
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It was reported that after the president’s address, when the Congress MP and opposition leader Rahul Gandhi met the speaker as a courtesy call, he along with some other members of the opposition voiced their displeasure over the Birla’s statement.
However, sharing the letter, the Congress general secretary said that he was writing the letter on behalf of the Congress party in the context of a “grave matter impacting the very credibility of institution of Parliament.”
“I am writing this in the context of a very grave matter impacting upon the very credibility of institution of Parliament.
Making of such a political reference from the Chair is unprecedented in the annals of history of Parliament.
This coming from the Chair as one of the… pic.twitter.com/EEwO27kIwM
— Congress (@INCIndia) June 27, 2024
