Son makes maiden LS speech, Sonia takes a backseat

Rahul’s maiden intervention took the House by surprise as he raised the issue under ‘‘matters of urgent public importance’’ — euphemism for Zero Hour. For some time now, there has been talk in Congress circles that he would make a speech in the course of some important debate in the Budget Session. But the Gandhi scion seemed to have preferred a softer launch.

Nevertheless, Congress MPs were quick in their appreciation, thumping their desks even before Rahul began to speak. But without advance notice, most Cabinet ministers were missing.

Reading from a slip of paper, Rahul said it was the state government’s responsibility to ensure farmers get “correct price for their produce’’.

On January 11, the UP government had informed the Supreme Court that private sugarcane mills had paid all the arrears to the cane farmers of the state. But Rahul said the Uttar Pradesh Cane Commissioner had recently told a television channel that arrears for the year 2002-03 amounting to Rs 517 crore were yet to be paid.

Describing this as ‘‘extremely unfair’’, he urged the Centre ‘‘to see that the state government complies with the directions given by the Supreme Court in their final judgment dated May 5, 2004 and our farmers are given their due.’’ Another round of applause greeted the end of the speech. Speaker Somnath Chatterjee also complimented him on his maiden speech.

With congratulations ringing in his ears, Rahul stumbled a little on his way out of the House but his mother was quick to offer a supportive hand.

Earlier, many eyebrows were raised when Sonia chose to sit in the last row. Some felt that she may not have wanted to disturb Laloo Prasad Yadav, Sharad Pawar, Priyaranjan Dasmunsi who were occupying the front row.

But when Rahul rose to speak, it became clear that Sonia had chosen her new perch with care. It was much easier to observe her son from the back bench than turning her head from the front row. Rahul stuck to his usual seat in the fourth row from the back — known as the ‘‘babalog bench’’ after its occupants Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora, Sandeep Dikshit, Jitin Prasad, Kuldeep Bishnoi and Naveen Jindal.

Afterwards, it was time for the party to celebrate the event. ‘‘The fact that he chose to speak about difficulties faced by farmers in his maiden speech shows our abiding commitment to their welfare,’’ Congress spokesman Anand Sharma said.

For Congress MPs, it was a welcome development, especially after BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra’s taunts. Making light of Rahul’s recent protest in front of Parliament, asking the Opposition to let the House function, Malhotra had wondered when Rahul spoke at all.

With inputs from Pradeep Kaushal