Members Can't Raise Slogans During Oath: Speaker Amends Lok Sabha Rule (image:x.com/Chacha_huu)

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla amended rules for the Members of the Parliament. This move came in response to many newly-elect adopted slogans during their oath for the 18th Lok Sabha on June 24 and 25.

Om Birla has added a fresh clause to ‘Direction 1’ of the ‘Directions by the Speaker’ which manages specific matters concerning to the House’s functioning that are not explicitly covered by existing rules.

As per new clause 3, members should submit to the oath or affirmation, without resorting to any words or expressions as prefixes or suffixes to the prescribed form.

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“A Member shall make and subscribe oath or affirmation, as the case may be, in accordance with the form set out for the purpose, in the Third Schedule to the Constitution of India and shall not use any word or expression or make any remark as a prefix or suffix to the form of oath or affirmation,” said the new clause.

It has been added with effect from June 28.

Earlier, the Speaker expressed concern over MPs indulging in words outside the prescribed text while taking oath. Some members have raised slogans like “Jai Samvidhan” and “Jai Hindu Rashtra” and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has raised the slogan “Jai Palestine”. Though then protem Speaker Bhartruhari Mahtab requested members to stick to the prescribed text, these instructions went unheeded.

Owaisi took oath in Urdu after which he hailed the war-torn Palestine along with ‘Jai Bheem and Jai Telangana” slogans. It resulted sharp criticism triggering an uproar from the treasury benches. Responding to the calls for his removal and demands for an apology, Owaisi said, “Let them do whatever they want. I also know a little bit about the Constitution. These empty threats will not work for me.”

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Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju stated that several parliamentarians used oath-taking occasion to send political messages. The sloganeering ensued a war of words between the treasury and the opposition benches on June 24 and 25.

The first session of the Lok Sabha concluded on July 2. The newly-elected parliamentarians took oath, President Droupadi Murmu addressed a joint sitting of the both house, and after a debate, the House adopted Motion of Thanks to the president’s address. Prime Minister Modi replied to the debate.