4 months ago
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Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi connected Tuesday (February 3, 2026) wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, lodging his beardown protestation for disallowing him to talk successful the House connected a substance of nationalist information and terming it a "blot" connected our democracy.
In his missive to Mr. Birla, the Congress person noted that portion speaking connected the Motion connected the President's code connected Monday (February 2, 2026), the Speaker had directed him to authenticate a mag which helium intended to notation to portion raising the India-China struggle of 2020.
Mr. Gandhi said that, arsenic per long-standing convention, including repeated rulings of past Speakers, a subordinate wishing to notation to a papers successful the House is required to authenticate it and affirm work for its contents, which helium did.
Thereafter, Mr. Gandhi said, the Speaker allows the subordinate to punctuation oregon notation to the document, and it becomes the work of the authorities to respond, and the relation of the Chair stands concluded.
"Preventing maine from speaking successful the Lok Sabha contiguous not lone violates this convention, but besides gives emergence to a superior interest that determination is simply a deliberate effort to forestall me, successful my capableness arsenic the Leader of the Opposition, from speaking connected matters of nationalist security.
"It is worthy repeating that nationalist information was a cardinal portion of the President's Address, which requires a treatment successful Parliament," Mr. Gandhi told Mr. Birla successful his letter.
He said arsenic an impartial custodian of the House, it is the Speaker's Constitutional and Parliamentary work to safeguard the rights of each member, including those of the Opposition. The close of the Leader of the Opposition and of each Member to talk is integral to our democracy, helium noted.
"The refusal of these basal antiauthoritarian rights has led to an unprecedented situation. For the archetypal clip successful Parliamentary history, connected the behest of the government, the Speaker has been forced to forestall the Leader of the Opposition from speaking connected the President's Address," the Congress person said successful his letter.
"This is simply a blot connected our democracy, against which I grounds my strongest protest," Mr. Gandhi said. Earlier successful the day, Mr. Gandhi authenticated a transcript of an nonfiction successful the Lok Sabha which cited erstwhile Army Chief M.M. Naravane's unpublished 'memoir' ,but it failed to extremity the impasse implicit the matter, starring to a little adjournment.
With Mr. Gandhi insisting connected raising the contented successful the Lok Sabha, Chair Krishna Prasad Tenneti moved connected to different Speakers and asked Harish Balayogi of the TDP, an NDA constituent, to talk connected the President's code aft 3 absorption MPs refused to speak, showing solidarity with Mr. Gandhi.
