New Delhi: Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kieron Rijiju A video clip was released on Thursday which he claimed was recorded by MPs in the chamber of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.Rigiju reiterated earlier accusations, accusing MPs of breaking into the speaker’s chamber, behaving inappropriately and using abusive language towards him.
“This is an illegal video shot by an MP when 20 to 25 MPs entered the speaker’s chamber, insulted him and threatened the prime minister. Our party believes in debate and discussion and never encourages physical threats by MPs,” Rijiju posted on X.Rijiju’s remarks came a day after he alleged that a group of MPs entered the Speaker’s Chamber and behaved unruly.“At least 20-25 MPs entered the Lok Sabha Speaker’s room and abused him. I was also present. The Speaker is a very weak person, otherwise strict action would have been taken. Senior Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and KC Venugopal were also present and encouraged them to fight,” Rijiju told reporters.“They went to the speaker’s chamber to insult him and say bad things. Then the speaker made a ruling but it was not followed and then Rahul Gandhi That he didn’t need anyone’s permission to speak. He will speak as he wishes, without any rules…A Member cannot speak in the House except with the permission of the Chairman. Even the Prime Minister can speak only with the permission of the Chairman. Everyone can speak only with permission,” he added.The accusations surfaced amid a deepening confrontation between the government and the parliamentary opposition. Earlier this week, the opposition parties filed a notice seeking the removal of Om Birla as Speaker of the Lok Sabha, accusing him of “blatant partisanship”. The opposition leader also claimed that Birla had made “false accusations” against the MP after referring to some “unexpected action” of the Lok Sabha and demanding the Prime Minister. Narendra Modi Not come to the House to reply to the motion of thanks for the President’s speech.The BJP has strongly opposed the opposition’s move against the Speaker, saying it is an attempt to weaken the parliamentary institution.Earlier, Rijiju claimed that tensions in the Lok Sabha could escalate further if BJP MPs confront Congress MPs on the day the Prime Minister is scheduled to respond to the debate.He also shared video footage from the February 4 meeting, which showed opposition female lawmakers walking towards the finance minister’s table amid a heated exchange. Rijiju questioned this behavior and accused the opposition of disrupting parliamentary proceedings in an unprecedented manner.The minister said the BJP and NDA MPs were “very angry” over the MP’s behavior but chose to exercise restraint.The Congress has faced several disruptions since February 2 after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was blocked by the chairman from quoting an article based on excerpts from the “unpublished memoirs” of former Army Chief MM Naravane.The situation escalated on February 4, when the Prime Minister was unable to reply to the motion of thanks due to opposition protests. The motion was passed on February 5, but did not receive a reply from the Prime Minister as is customary. The Speaker read out the motion, which was passed by voice vote amid sustained chanting by opposition MPs.
