The no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla was bound to be rejected, given the numbers in the House. What stands out is the manner in which the matter was dealt with by the Speaker and the parties concerned. Birla took no time to stand aside till such time the motion was discussed. In fact, he got discrepancies in the communication sent to him by the opposition parties corrected, so that the matter would not be delayed. It displayed dignity and generosity of spirit on his part.
Despite all the eagerness to target the Speaker, when it came time to debate the matter, the opposition displayed its lack of seriousness by demanding the ongoing West Asia crisis be discussed instead. And when the no-confidence motion was eventually discussed, there was little said about the Speaker and, instead, it was the government that was targeted. This was pointed out repeatedly by those presiding over the House, but it did not lead to any change in approach. As a consequence, it became a political battle and the ruling party speakers more than succeeded in showing through facts and statistics that the Leader of the Opposition, who claimed to have been the biggest victim of the alleged partiality by the Chair, was much below par in his performance as a parliamentarian. Eventually, Speaker Om Birla’s standing has risen even more and Rahul Gandhi has been shown up, once again, as a person with a highly misplaced sense of entitlement.
Behind all this is an attempt by the opposition, particularly the Congress and the TMC, to intimidate constitutional authorities for their own purposes. The planned impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar is part of the same strategy. While the TMC wants the SIR in West Bengal to go its way, the Congress is interested in projecting its defeats not as failure to obtain the people’s mandate but ‘manipulation’ by the ECI. Other institutions have also faced similar allegations. As was pointed out in Parliament, these charges have also been made by Rahul Gandhi from various forums on foreign soil, seriously damaging India’s image and democratic identity.
The end result of the latest debate has not been in favour of the opposition. In the present day, it is not as if the debate is over and done with –it can be seen repeatedly on the internet platforms causing further damage. It has undoubtedly proven to be another self-goal by the Congress.
