Om Birla has been elected as Speaker of Lok Sabha for the second consecutive term in that post. He is doing so in the backdrop of no assurance to the opposition by the Modi regime that the post of Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha would be occupied by an MP from opposition benches.
The first act of Birla as Speaker in reading out a statement from the Chair condemning Indira Gandhi and emergency met with uproar from opposition benches. It certainly was a step which has signalled that his tenure would be provocative enough to make the proceedings of the House very stormy.
During the entire tenure of 17th Lok Sabha the post of Deputy Speaker was not filled up. It was unprecedented. As per convention, a member from the opposition benches is chosen for the post of Deputy Speaker. In not filling up that post Modi regime showed contempt for the Constitution and unmistakably signalled that without providing space to the opposition to preside over the proceedings of the Lok Sabha it would run the affairs of the apex legislature of our country.
Pro tem speaker appointed in violation of convention
The manner in which the convention of appointing the senior most MP as Pro Tem Speaker was dispensed with by appointing a six term MP, Bhatruhari Mahtab, and ignoring, K Suresh, an MP with a record of getting elected eight times to the Lok Sabha, does not inspire confidence that Constitution and rules would be upheld during the second tenure of Om Birla as Speaker of Lok Sabha.
Criticism of Birla and Dhankar
Even the manner in which Chairman, Rajya Sabha, Jagdish Dhankar and Speaker of 17th Lok Sabha, Om Birla, functioned raised many questions about their impartiality and integrity in conducting the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.
For instance their conduct as presiding officers in throttling the voices of opposition was very harshly commented upon by editorials of The Hindu and Indian Express on 22nd February 2023. It is worthwhile to quote from the Hindu editorial titled ‘Discipline and discussion: … Parliament is the forum where the government is answerable to the people.’ The Hindu editorial specifically flagged the decision of the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, and Speaker, Lok Sabha, to delete parts of of the speeches of Malikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi made in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively on the Adani issue. The editorial searchingly observed, “Parliament is the platform where the Opposition has the responsibility to ask questions of the government, which the Council of Ministers has the responsibility to answer. There are parliamentary rules and norms that have evolved over time to achieve this objective. It will be a travesty of parliamentary democracy if the Opposition is penalised for seeking accountability from the government, which in turn is allowed to hide behind rules and obfuscate the issue.”
Record expulsion of opposition members
Both Dhankar and Birla as presiding officers also set an unenviable record of expelling 143 Members of opposition after they protested inside both the Houses of Parliament. During the time when such large number of opposition members were not there very crucial legislations such as three Bills replacing Indian Penal Code and other codes with serious implications on life and liberty of people were passed without adequate discussion.
Danish Ali case
Birla as the Speaker of Lok Sabha did precious little when Lok Sabha MP Danish Ali was abused by a BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri on the floor of the House in the name of Islamic faith he pursued. He only said that Bidhuri would face strict action if he repeated his conduct.
Switching off mics of opposition leaders
Birla has also been accused by opposition leaders that during the tenure of 17th Lok Sabha on many occasions their mics were switched off when they were speaking in the House and Sansad TV channel covering its proceedings focussed cameras on the Speaker rather than on leaders from the opposition benches delivering speeches.
During his tenure as Speaker, Lok Sabha, far less number of Bills were referred to the Departmental Related Parliamentary Standing Committees for scrutiny and examination on a bipartisan basis than during the tenure of his distinguished predecessors such Somnath Chatterjee and Meera Kumar.
CISF taking over parliamentary security service
There are now credible reports that during the tenure of Om Birla the Parliament Security Service consisting of unarmed Watch and Ward staff owing its origin to the 1926 decision of Vittalbhai Patel, then President of the Central Legislative Assembly, has been almost wound up and in its place the personnel of the Central Industrial Security Force has been deployed.
Even the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar and many other great leaders of our history placed in the prominent locations of the old Parliament building have been relocated to an area named as Prerana Sthal, Place of Inspiration, which is there in a remote corner not attracting the attention of MPs and those visiting the Parliament. The decision to do so should have been taken by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Installation of Portraits/Statues of National Leaders and Parliamentarians in the Parliament House Complex. It is understood that deliberative and consultative process associated with the decision making in that Committee was dispensed with for relocating those statues. Many political parties have raised objections on the issue but sadly there has been no response from the authorities concerned.
Birla did nothing to fill deputy speaker’s post
As mentioned earlier the post of Deputy Speaker remained vacant during the entire period of 17th Lok Sabha. By convention that post should have been occupied by a Lok Sabha Member belonging to a opposition party. But that convention was not adhered to and most importantly Article 93 of the Constitution mandating, among others, that “The House of the People shall, as soon as may be, choose two members of the House to be respectively Speaker and Deputy Speaker thereof” has been violated without picking up any one Member of 17th Lok Sabha as Deputy Speaker. In spite of several letters of opposition parties to Speaker, Om Birla, to initiate action to fill up the post of Deputy Speaker he did precious little to adhere to the Constitutional mandate. A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court in February 2023 to the effect that the vacancy in the post of Deputy Speaker in Lok Sabha as also in State Assemblies of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand for so many years after those legislatures were constituted violated the letter and spirit of the Constitution.
The plea contended that Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies are not subordinate to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the State legislatures and they perform very critical legislative functions. In fact the rulings given by the Deputy Speakers, be it of Lok Sabha or State Assemblies cannot be revised by the Speakers of those legislatures. So by not filling up the post of Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha Constitution was contravened and Om Birla did nothing to uphold the Constitution.
Opposition must remain vigilant
With such track record Birla has commenced the consecutive second tenure as a Speaker of Lok Sabha. Opposition parties must be vigilant to safeguard Parliament and Parliamentary democracy. Ambedkar had famously stated in the Constituent Assembly that Parliament belongs to the opposition. It is heartening that the Members of opposition benches displayed the copies of the Constitution in the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha when oath to newly elected Members was administered by the Pro Tem Speaker Bhatruhari Mahtab. It underlined the point that while people made the issue of saving the Constitution a major electoral issue in the recently concluded 18th general elections leaders belonging to the opposition in the Parliament would fight the people’s causes one of which is to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Om Birla as Speaker must remain tuned to the constitutional vision of India and act according to the Constitution and not as per his uninspiring past record.
S.N. Sahu served as officer on special duty to former President KR Narayanan.
