Told to clear entry area, media has a new address in Parliament: Glass enclosure

Participating in the debate on the Union Budget, Gandhi told Speaker Om Birla: “Sir, I would request you to allow the media, who have been restricted to a cage, to move out.” Birla replied that such issues should be discussed with him in person and not on the floor of the House, and Gandhi should know about the rules of procedures of Parliament.

Later, Birla separately met Opposition leaders and members of the media and assured to take up their issues and resolve them. “Today, the journalists were asked to remain there (inside the enclosure) to collect sound bytes from leaders as many MPs had complained that too many of them would crowd the steps and the area around the entry, making it difficult for them to walk through,” said a source.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla with a group of journalists, amid Opposition protests over media restrictions in Parliament. (PTI/ X)

The area in front of the main gate from which MPs enter and leave Parliament House is the only space on the premises that has been cordoned off, sources said, other than areas around the Prime Minister’s Office and offices of the Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Derek O’Brien, who met the journalists in the enclosure, along with Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi, called the measure a form of “censorship”. “This is completely unacceptable. We are with you in this fight,” O’Brien said.

RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha posted a picture of himself standing next to the media enclosure, and said it reflected “the sick state of democracy”. “Media friends cannot go beyond this cage-like place… this is the new order. This is the latest picture of the sick state of our democracy.”

Aam Aadmi Party Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha wrote to House Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar urging that the journalists be allowed “free movement”, and provided adequate facilities.

Speaking to reporters in Kolkata, TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee called the measure an “act of autocracy”. “The Opposition should stand together against this dictatorial act.”

Later, at the Business Advisory Council (BAC) meeting, Congress Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi demanded that the restrictions on mediapersons in the House imposed since Covid be removed, and questioned how they were being confined to an enclosure now.

Birla assured the floor leaders at the BAC that he would constitute an all-party committee to address the issue and give suggestions. “The Speaker said arrangements could be made to ensure smooth working of the media,” said a source.

Speaker Birla also met a journalist delegation and assured them that all their grievances would be addressed and better facilities provided to them to discharge their duties.

At the old Parliament building too, there was an enclosure for the media, but it was open and mainly for TV cameramen, who would sit there with their equipment in wait for getting soundbytes of leaders. Sources in the Lok Sabha Secretariat said the upgrade to the glass enclosure was to provide an air-conditioned facility where the mediapersons could sit in comfort and avail facilities there like drinking water, coffee and tea.

At the start of this month, the Editors’ Guild of India had urged Birla and Dhankhar to remove the pandemic-era restrictions on the number of journalists allowed in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, respectively, saying it “impeded their ability” to cover proceedings in Parliament.

The guild said that although a thousand journalists across print and electronic media were accredited to cover the proceedings of the two Houses, “only a fraction of them are provided access”.