Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday warned members that they should refrain from referring to someone's caste or religion in the House. His warning came amid allegations by Congress MP A R Reddy that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made certain remarks about his proficiency in Hindi because he belonged to a lower caste.
Om Birla took serious exception to a word used by Reddy to refer to his own social category while making the claim during the Question Hour on Monday. Birla said people had not elected the MPs to Lok Sabha for their caste and religion.
"Anyone here should never use such words in the House. Otherwise, I will have to take action against such a member," Om Birla warned.
He also objected to the Congress member's remarks after Reddy, while asking his question, asked Birla not to “interrupt” him. The Lok Sabha Speaker then told the Congress's leader in the House, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, to talk to the members of his party and explain to them that they should never make such comments about the Speaker.
He told Chowdhury, "You are Leader of the House. Make members understand that they should never comment on the Speaker in the future saying that you (Speaker) can not interrupt. Do you understand what I said?”
The issue started when Reddy put forth a question on the depreciating Rupee against the Dollar, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's earlier remark when he was the chief minister of Gujarat that the Rupee was in the ICU (intensive care unit).
When the Speaker objected to it and directed him to ask just his question, Reddy retorted: “Sir, you cannot interrupt.” Birla then went on to allow Reddy continue his question after warning against making such comments against the Speaker.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman responded to Reddy's question, saying she will also reply in “weak Hindi” to the question asked by the Congress member in “weak Hindi”.
The Congress member, while referring to Modi's remarks on value of rupee against dollar in the past, should have also referred to the economic indicators of that time, she said. “Economy was certainly in the ICU then. India was kept in fragile five,” she said.
"Today, India is the fastest growing economy despite the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war," she said.
"This is a matter of pride. But they are making fun of it, she said. "It's sad that they talk such things out of jealousy when our economy is doing well,” she added.
(With Inputs from PTI)