Rahul Gandhi Speech Expunged: Congress MP Contests Speaker's Decision, Cites Anurag Thakur's Remarks In LS

Rahul Gandhi expressed concern over the expungement of portions of his Lok Sabha speech. He was shocked by how a considerable portion of his speech was removed from the proceedings.

Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday wrote a letter to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla after several portions of his speech in the House were expunged from the Lok Sabha's record. In the letter, Gandhi expressed concern and said that he was shocked by how a considerable portion of his speech had been removed from the proceedings under the garb of expunction.

"While I Chair dereives (the Chair derives) powers to expunge certain remarks from the proceedings of the House but the stipulation is only those kind of words, the nature of which have been specified in Rule 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha," the letter read. "I am, however, shocked to note the manner in which considerable portion of my speech have been simply taken off from the proceedings under the garb of expunction, it further stated.

The former Congress chief, in his letter, highlighted that the portions expunged do not come under the ambit of Rule 380. He further stated that what he always seeks to convey in the House is the ground reality, the factual position.  

"I am enclosing relevant portions of uncorrected Debates of Lok Sabha dated 2 July. I am constrained to state that the portions expunged do not come under the ambit of Rule 380. What I sought to convey in the House is ground reality, the factual position," the Congress leader said.

"Every member of the House who personifies the collective voice of people whom he or she represents has the freedom of speech as enshrined in Article 105(1) of the Constitution of India. It is every member's right to raise people's concems (concerns) on the floor of the House," he further stated.

Rahul Gandhi’s comments equating the BJP with violent Hindus sparked strong protests from the saffron party MPs and prompted an intervention from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress said that Rahul Gandhi was only referring to the saffron party and not the entire Hindu community.

Criticising the step taken by the Lok Sabha speaker, Gandhi said that taking his remarks off the record goes against the very tenets of parliamentary democracy. "It is that right and in exercise of my obligations to the people of the country, that I was exercising yesterday. Taking off from records my considered remarks goes against the very tenets of parliamentary democracy," he said.

In his letter, Rahul Gandhi also tried to draw attention to a speech delivered by BJP leader Anurag Thakur and said that it was full of allegations, but only one word was expunged. He also requested the Lok Sabha speaker to restore the remarks expunged from the proceedings.

"In this context I also wish to draw attention to speech of Shri Anurag Thakur whose speech was full of allegations, however, surprisingly only one word has been expunged! With due respect to your good self this selective expunction defies logic. I request that the remarks expunged from the proceedings be restored," the letter stated.

In his first speech as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi launched a no-holds-barred attack on the BJP, accusing the leaders of the ruling party of dividing people on communal lines. The Congress leader's remarks drew massive protests from the treasury benches and a rare intervention from the prime minister, who slammed the Congress leader for calling the entire Hindu community violent.