Lok Sabha debate on no-confidence motion against Om Birla: Amit Shah to respond to Opposition today

The debate on the motion is expected to continue in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with Shah scheduled to address the House during the proceedings.

• Amit Shah to address Lok Sabha on Speaker removal motion debate
• 118 Opposition MPs accuse Speaker Om Birla of partisan conduct
• Debate sees sharp exchanges between government and Opposition

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Home Minister Amit Shah is set to address the Lok Sabha on Wednesday during the ongoing debate on a motion seeking the removal of Speaker Om Birla, which has triggered sharp exchanges between the government and the Opposition.

The motion was moved by Congress MP Mohammad Jawed, with more than 50 MPs backing the resolution.

BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, who was presiding over the House, granted permission to move the motion and said 10 hours had been allocated for the debate. He also urged members to focus on the resolution, noting that the Speaker had been “generous with the permissions and procedure” for the Opposition’s motion.

In total, 118 Opposition MPs signed the resolution, accusing Birla of “partisan behaviour”.

The debate began on Tuesday with disagreements over procedure. Asaduddin Owaisi of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and Congress MP K. C. Venugopal objected to the way the presiding officer was chosen for the discussion.

They argued that the House should elect a member to preside over the debate and questioned how the Chair was selected from the panel of Chairpersons.

However, BJP leaders dismissed these concerns. Former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey described the Opposition’s objections as “baseless”.

Initiating the debate, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said the resolution was intended to uphold parliamentary standards rather than target the Speaker personally. “This resolution has been brought as a responsibility to protect the dignity of the House, not personally against Om Birla,” Gogoi said.

He also criticised Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, suggesting that parliamentary records would reflect frequent interruptions by the minister. “In the future, when research is done on parliamentary records and transcripts, statistics will show that Kiren Rijiju was the Parliamentary Affairs Minister who interrupted the Opposition the most,” he said.

According to Gogoi, the motion argues that the Speaker “has ceased to maintain the impartial attitude necessary to command the confidence of all sections of the House; that, in his partisan conduct, he disregards the rights of Members and makes pronouncements and rulings calculated to affect and undermine those rights; and that he espouses the version of the ruling party on controversial matters”.

Responding to the allegations, Rijiju targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying parliamentary rules require members to obtain the Speaker’s permission before speaking.

“When you look at the Constitution and the rules of the House, no one has challenged any decision of the Speaker. That day, I was upset by the fact that the Opposition MP said I do not need permission from anyone to speak in Parliament; this is on record. ‘This is my right to speak in Parliament, our Leader of the Opposition said. So I was thinking, there are many senior members in Congress, why did they not explain that in this House, PM, minister, LoP can be present, but one needs permission from the speaker to speak,” he said.

Rijiju also remarked that the Congress could have chosen Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as its leader in the House.

Priyanka Gandhi responded by defending Rahul Gandhi and accusing the government of being unable to accept his criticism. “There is only one person in the country who has not bowed down before them in the last 12 years. It is the Leader of the Opposition. They cannot digest the truth he speaks,” she said.

The debate on the motion is expected to continue in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, with Amit Shah scheduled to address the House during the proceedings.