Journalism of Courage
As the BJP government continued to corner the Congress in Parliament Wednesday, demanding an apology from MP Rahul Gandhi for his recent remarks in London, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, wrote to Speaker Om Birla alleging his microphone had been muted for the last three days.
Chowdhury said he was writing the letter “with a heavy heart and deep sense of anguish” about “government-sponsored disruption in the House”.
“I am deeply disheartened to observe that ever since the House resumed after the break on March 13, 2023, there has been a Government-sponsored disruption in the House. It appears to me as if there is a well-hatched conspiracy on the part of the party in power to tarnish the image of an individual member of an Opposition Party (Sh Rahul Gandhi),” he said.
Chowdhury added, “What is more disturbing for me to observe is that even the ministers themselves vociferously take the lead to disrupt the proceedings. The voice of the leaders of Opposition parties is not being heard at all.”
The Congress then drew the Speaker’s attention to his “muted” microphone and said Gandhi’s statements on the matter were “substantiated”.
“With a deep sense of displeasure, I would like to bring to your notice that the mike before my table has been muted for the past three days as a result of which I failed to articulate my views in protest to the frivolous and wild allegations against my party leader (Rahul Gandhi),” he said.
He went on to say that the disruption of the House by the Treasury Benches and the “silencing of all the mikes of Opposition members goes on to amply substantiate the views expressed by Gandhi that ‘mikes of the opposition members are often muted in India”.
At an event organised in the Grand Committee Room of the UK House of Commons by Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma earlier this month, Gandhi alleged that the microphones of Opposition members in Parliament are often switched off. “Our mikes are not out of order, they are functioning, but you still cannot switch them on. That has happened to me a number of times while I am speaking,” he said when he came across a faulty microphone in the room.
Arguing that the “institution of Parliament is considered as the formidable pillar of democracy” and “the conduct of smooth functioning of Parliament reveal to a great extent, the success of democracy in a country,” Chowdhury asked the Speaker to “ensure that the Opposition members get an opportunity to ventilate their viewpoints in the House in a fair manner and enjoy the basic political right as an elected representative”.
