Motion to remove speaker after heated debate in parliament defeated

New Delhi: Opposition resolution to remove Speaker About Birla Defeated by voice vote in Lok Sabha on Wednesday after two days of discussions with Home Minister Amit Shahfierce counterattack, especially against Rahul Gandhi. Shah slammed the proposal to put the chairman’s “dignity” in the dock and asked the Opposition not to view the House as a freewheeling “mela”, Kumar Rakesh reported.Birla, who will return to his seat on Thursday, decided not to preside over proceedings from February 10 when 120 opposition MPs submitted notices seeking his removal for alleged partisan conduct. The discussions were characterized by heated debate as both sides tried to push their narratives, with opposition members attacking the government for allegedly undermining institutions and silencing their voices, while the ruling alliance attributed the rare motion against the speaker to opponents’ frustration over the election defeat and a sense of entitlement harbored by the Congress party’s Gandhi family.

A vote on the motion failed to take place as opposition MPs strongly demanded an apology from Shah for his use of the word “unparliamentary”. He urged the chairman to remove it if it did not meet parliamentary requirements, but the protests continued, forcing a voice vote from Jagdambika Pal, the BJP lawmaker who holds the chairmanship. Shah said the Speaker, as the guardian of the House, has the power to discipline unruly members. “Those who do not follow the rules should have their microphones cut off,” he said, insisting that the chairman has the power to delete words used by MPs that are inconsistent with parliamentary rules and even to remove MPs if they persist in behavior inconsistent with prevailing norms for decades.