Will the all-party meeting called by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Thursday improve relations between her and the opposition?
The meeting has been called in the backdrop of severe trust deficit between Mahajan and the opposition, which has openly accused her of partisanship. The Speaker has vehemently denied this accusation.
Relations between the two worsened during the past week of the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, which has witnessed continuous disruptions by the opposition demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje.
Taking strong objections to members showing placards and wearing black armbands in the House, Mahajan threatened disciplinary action against members who fail to “maintain decorum” and storm into the well of the House.
“In the event of disorderly conduct, I would be constrained to initiate appropriate disciplinary action against erring members,” Mahajan had said after placard-waving Congress members and other opposition parties raised protests over Lalitgate.
However, her warning made matters worse as the opposition members became more aggressive, with Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Mohammad Salim rushing into the well shouting “Arrest us Madam”.
Logjam in Parliament
The stand-off continued with an angry Mahajan suspending Congress member Adhir Choudhary for “disregarding the authority of the chair” after he climbed on to the podium and banged a placard on it. Chaudhary’s explanation and reluctant apology failed to mollify the Speaker who felt the apology was conditional which, she maintained, was unacceptable.
Earlier, Mallikarjuna Kharge, leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, had charged that he was not given an opportunity to speak and that his microphones had been deliberately switched off. “We requested to speak on the Punjab terror attack. Everybody was allowed, but we were not allowed. What does it show, if not partiality?” he told the Indian Express in an interview. In addition, the Congress has complained that the Lok Sabha TV had been “blacking out” the opposition protests and instead focused only on the Speaker.
The all-party meeting called by Mahajan on Thursday assumes significance given this running battle between the opposition and the Speaker. Sources in the Lok Sabha secretariat maintained the meeting had been called to ensure the proper functioning of the House, which has failed to transact any business in this session because of the opposition protests. The meeting may not end the logjam in Parliament but it is to be seen if it will help restore trust between the Lok Sabha presiding officer and the aggrieved opposition parties. Except for the mandatory session-eve meetings, this is the first time that Mahajan has called all party leaders to discuss the functioning of the House.
Mahajan and the opposition parties, particularly the Congress, have had a tense relationship ever since she denied the post of leader of opposition to the grand old party on the ground that it did not have the requisite number of members to qualify for this position. Matters may have got out of hand in this session but charges of partisanship have also been levelled against the Speaker in previous sessions.
In opposition's cross-hairs
The Congress had openly attacked Mahajan in the last session over Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur’s statement on the Amethi food park in the Lok Sabha. The principal opposition party had charged that the Speaker allowed the minister to make the same statement twice, a clear sign of partiality. Questions were also raised when Mahajan expunged critical remarks specifically targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is not the first instance of such a run-in between a Speaker and the opposition. When the Bharatiya Janata Party was in the opposition, it had threatened to bring a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for not giving its members sufficient time to record their views. Chatterjee had refuted these charges, stating that he had admitted more adjournment motions sponsored by the opposition than any other previous Speaker. Mahajan has similarly maintained that she had been providing “adequate” time to the opposition to raise issues of national importance.
It is not just Chatterjee and Mahajan who have been battling charges of prejudice. Lok Sabha’s first Speaker GV Mavalanakar also faced similar charges. In fact, opposition parties even went as far as to move a no-confidence motion against him in 1954 when Mavalankar did not allow an adjournment motion on a lathi-charge by policemen in Manipur.
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The meeting has been called in the backdrop of severe trust deficit between Mahajan and the opposition, which has openly accused her of partisanship. The Speaker has vehemently denied this accusation.
Relations between the two worsened during the past week of the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament, which has witnessed continuous disruptions by the opposition demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje.
Taking strong objections to members showing placards and wearing black armbands in the House, Mahajan threatened disciplinary action against members who fail to “maintain decorum” and storm into the well of the House.
“In the event of disorderly conduct, I would be constrained to initiate appropriate disciplinary action against erring members,” Mahajan had said after placard-waving Congress members and other opposition parties raised protests over Lalitgate.
However, her warning made matters worse as the opposition members became more aggressive, with Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Mohammad Salim rushing into the well shouting “Arrest us Madam”.
Logjam in Parliament
The stand-off continued with an angry Mahajan suspending Congress member Adhir Choudhary for “disregarding the authority of the chair” after he climbed on to the podium and banged a placard on it. Chaudhary’s explanation and reluctant apology failed to mollify the Speaker who felt the apology was conditional which, she maintained, was unacceptable.
Earlier, Mallikarjuna Kharge, leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, had charged that he was not given an opportunity to speak and that his microphones had been deliberately switched off. “We requested to speak on the Punjab terror attack. Everybody was allowed, but we were not allowed. What does it show, if not partiality?” he told the Indian Express in an interview. In addition, the Congress has complained that the Lok Sabha TV had been “blacking out” the opposition protests and instead focused only on the Speaker.
The all-party meeting called by Mahajan on Thursday assumes significance given this running battle between the opposition and the Speaker. Sources in the Lok Sabha secretariat maintained the meeting had been called to ensure the proper functioning of the House, which has failed to transact any business in this session because of the opposition protests. The meeting may not end the logjam in Parliament but it is to be seen if it will help restore trust between the Lok Sabha presiding officer and the aggrieved opposition parties. Except for the mandatory session-eve meetings, this is the first time that Mahajan has called all party leaders to discuss the functioning of the House.
Mahajan and the opposition parties, particularly the Congress, have had a tense relationship ever since she denied the post of leader of opposition to the grand old party on the ground that it did not have the requisite number of members to qualify for this position. Matters may have got out of hand in this session but charges of partisanship have also been levelled against the Speaker in previous sessions.
In opposition's cross-hairs
The Congress had openly attacked Mahajan in the last session over Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur’s statement on the Amethi food park in the Lok Sabha. The principal opposition party had charged that the Speaker allowed the minister to make the same statement twice, a clear sign of partiality. Questions were also raised when Mahajan expunged critical remarks specifically targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is not the first instance of such a run-in between a Speaker and the opposition. When the Bharatiya Janata Party was in the opposition, it had threatened to bring a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for not giving its members sufficient time to record their views. Chatterjee had refuted these charges, stating that he had admitted more adjournment motions sponsored by the opposition than any other previous Speaker. Mahajan has similarly maintained that she had been providing “adequate” time to the opposition to raise issues of national importance.
It is not just Chatterjee and Mahajan who have been battling charges of prejudice. Lok Sabha’s first Speaker GV Mavalanakar also faced similar charges. In fact, opposition parties even went as far as to move a no-confidence motion against him in 1954 when Mavalankar did not allow an adjournment motion on a lathi-charge by policemen in Manipur.
