The presiding officers of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, as well as senior ministers, were absent from an official function to commemorate the birth anniversary of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, at Parliament’s Central Hall, triggering a political controversy. “Extraordinary scene today in Parliament at the traditional function to mark the birth anniversary of those whose portraits adorn the Central Hall. Speaker Lok Sabha absent. Chairman Rajya Sabha absent. Not a single Minister was present. Can it get more atrocious than this?!” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted. Extraordinary scene today in Parliament at the traditional function to mark the birth anniversary of those whose portraits adorn the Central Hall. Speaker Lok Sabha absent. Chairman Rajya Sabha absent. Not a single Minister present. Can it get more atrocious than this?! — Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) November 14, 2021 “Nothing surprises me anymore. This dispensation is destroying India’s great institutions, including #Parliament one day at a time,” tweeted Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’ Brien, responding to Ramesh. Nothing surprises me anymore. This dispensation is destroying India’s great institutions, including #Parliament one day at a time. — Derek O'Brien | ডেরেক ও'ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) November 14, 2021 Sources in the Rajya Sabha secretariat said Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu usually does not attend such functions at the Central Hall. Sources in Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s office said the Speaker attends the function every year. They pointed out that Birla was present in 2019 and 2020. In 2018, the then Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan attended the event. “But this year, the Speaker is attending a Children’s Session programme organised by the Rajasthan government in the state Assembly on the occasion of Children’s Day in which Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also is present. Whenever the speaker is in Delhi, he never misses paying tributes to the leaders,” said a source in the Speaker’s office. While Ramesh said not a single minister was present, the Lok Sabha Secretariat, in a customary press release issued on the occasion, mentioned the name of Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma as among those who paid floral tributes at the portrait. In 2019, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and the then Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Prahalad Patel had attended the function. In 2018, the then Union Minister Vijay Goel was present. In 2017, then Home Minister Rajnath Singh, then Finance Minister late Arun Jaitely, and the then Parliamentary Affairs Minister, the late Ananth Kumar, were among those who paid floral tributes.
