Rahul Gandhi Meets Om Birla: LoP Criticises Lok Sabha Speaker For His 'Emergency' Remark, Calls It 'Clearly Political'

Om Birla recalled the events of June 26, 1975, noting that the country awoke to the harsh realities of Emergency, including jailing the Oppn leaders, and media restrictions.

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, met Speaker Om Birla on Thursday, where he expressed his discontent over the Speaker's reference to the Emergency yesterday. The reference was made during a parliamentary session on Wednesday, labeling it "clearly political" and unnecessary. 

Gandhi's meeting with the Speaker was described as a courtesy call, during which he also raised the issue of the Emergency reference, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal said. 

"It was a courtesy call. The Speaker declared Rahul Gandhi as the Leader of the Opposition, and after that, he, along with other I.N.D.I.A bloc partner leaders met the Speaker," Venugopal told reporters. 

Asked about Emergency reference, Venugopal said, "We discussed many things about Parliament functioning. Of course, this issue also came up. Rahul ji, as Leader of Opposition, informed the Speaker that this issue could have been avoided from the Speaker's reference. It is clearly a political reference and could have been avoided".

Separately, Venugopal wrote to Birla, expressing the party's displeasure over the Speaker's decision to bring up the Emergency in his first task after assuming office. 

"I am writing this in the context of a very grave matter impacting the very credibility of the institution of Parliament," Venugopal stated in his letter. "What followed thereafter, a reference from the Chair after your acceptance speech, regarding the declaration of Emergency half a century ago, is deeply shocking. Making such a political reference from the Chair is unprecedented in the annals of Parliament's history". 

Venugopal criticised the timing and content of Birla's remarks, which condemned the imposition of Emergency as "an attack on the Constitution" by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The remarks triggered strong protests from Congress members in the House.

Birla had recalled the events of June 26, 1975, noting that the country awoke to the harsh realities of Emergency, including jailing the Opposition leaders, media restrictions, and curbs on the judiciary's autonomy. 

Rahul Gandhi's meeting with the Speaker was his first since assuming the role of Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He was accompanied by Samajwadi Party's Dharmendra Yadav and Dimple Yadav, DMK's Kanimozhi, BNCP's Supriya Sule, RJD's Misa Bharti, TMC's Kalyan Banerjee, RSP's NK Premachandran, and others.