Speaker's 2-Minute Silence On Emergency Triggers Protests, Adjournment

Smiles and handshakes between rivals followed the re-election of Om Birla as Lok Sabha Speaker today. The rare moment of bonhomie was, however, short-lived and chaos returned after the newly-elected Speaker mentioned the "dark days of Emergency" and called for 2-minute silence.

Soon after Mr Birla, a three-time MP, was re-elected by voice vote, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi walked up and congratulated him. Mr Gandhi also shook hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Then, the two leaders, along with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, escorted Mr Birla to the Speaker's chair.

Congratulating Mr Birla, the Prime Minister said his "sweet smile keeps the entire House happy". "It is a matter of honour that you have been elected to this chair for the second time," the Prime Minister said.

Opposition leaders also congratulated the Speaker, but added a sharp message that the Opposition must be allowed to speak, as they too represent the voice of the people.

"The question is not how efficiently the House is run. The question is how much of India's voice is being allowed to be heard. So the idea that you can run the House efficiently by silencing the voice of the Opposition is a non-democratic idea. And this election has shown that the people of India expect the Opposition to defend the Constitution," said Mr Gandhi, who is now the Leader of the Opposition. Several leaders from the Opposition benches also brought up the mass suspension of MPs in the last term in their congratulatory messages.

Addressing the House, Mr Birla said all members must work together for the nation. Appealing to the members to ensure decorum in the House, he said there must remain a difference between protest in the sansad (House) and protest on sadak (street). Thereafter, he asked the members to rise for two minutes' silence to mark the 50th anniversary of the "dark days of Emergency". This sparked an uproar from the Opposition benches and the House was adjourned.

According to BJP sources, this year marks the 50th anniversary of the Emergency. "It is our collective duty to create awareness about all historic events. Awareness towards Constitution will only strengthen when young generation knows about democracy," a source said.

On the Speaker's Emergency remark, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said it is "unfortunate" that the Speaker ended up undermining the spirit of consensus by a "divisive" statement. "This was not necessary. It was 49 years ago. If you have to go to such lengths on a day on which the message was to be one of cooperation and consensus, that's unfortunate," he said.

This was only the third election for the Lok Sabha Speaker after Independence. The voting took place after the Congress forced a contest and fielded its eight-time MP K Suresh as a challenger. The numbers, however, were clearly on Mr Birla's side. While the NDA candidate had the support of 297 MPs, the Opposition pick had 232.

The Lok Sabha Speaker is generally chosen with consensus. This time, the government had reached out to Opposition parties for their support. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had then responded that it will support the NDA candidate if the Deputy Speaker is appointed from the Opposition benches.

The government, however, made it clear that they are not considering a Deputy Speaker post, or the Opposition's claim to it, for now. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said, "We appealed to them for support for the Speaker, but they said that they would support it but that they wanted the post of Deputy Speaker. We told them that the process of election for both posts is different. The process for choosing the Speaker is conducted before the Deputy Speaker. So it is not right to combine both."

Mr Gandhi had yesterday hit out at the government, alleging that the Prime Minister speaks of cooperation, but acts differently. He said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who was reaching out to Opposition parties for support, did not get back to Mr Kharge.

"Rajnath Singh called Mallikarjun Kharge and asked him to extend support... entire Opposition said we will support but convention is Deputy Speaker should be from our side. Rajnath Singh said he would call back... but he has not yet...PM is asking for cooperation but our leader is getting insulted."

It must be noted that the Deputy Speaker's post, traditionally given to an Opposition MP, was vacant in the last Lok Sabha. In the one before that, the BJP had named its ally AIADMK's M Thambi Durai.