In his debut speech at the Parliament, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader and MP from Srinagar Aga Ruhulla Mehdi raised the issue of an elected-Muslim leader being labelled a terrorist and the swift passing of the Abrogation of Article 370 bill leading to his mic being muted by the Speaker Om Birla.
Mehdi defeated People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Wahid Para in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. He took oath in his mother tongue Kashmiri demonstrating Kashmir’s linguistic diversity.
Mehdi was speaking when Parliamentarians congratulated Birla for his second successive consecutive term as the Speaker of Lok Sabha.
Congratulating Birla, Mehdi also reminded that a speaker’s main job was to remain impartial and follow the Constitution.
”Congratulations on being elected Speaker again. After this, I request that from now on, you belong neither to BJP, nor Congress, nor Samajwadi Party. From today onwards, your only party should be the Constitution of India. I hope that from today onwards, you will be its protector,” Mehdi from Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency said.
He reminded Birla of how an elected MP (Danish Ali) was allowed to be insulted by a ruling party MP (Ramesh Bidhuri) who called the former a ‘terrorist’ and hoped such episodes would not be repeated.
“In this House, which is known as the largest assembly of democracy, there will be examples of democracy. You will be remembered whether you forced the ruling party to listen to the opposition or silenced the opposition. You will be reminded how you remained silent when a Muslim MP elected by the people was called a ‘terrorist’. If an MP elected by the people can be called a terrorist in this House, then those Muslims can also be called terrorists on the streets,” he said.
As uproar of dissent started brewing among other ruling NDA MPs, Birla asked Mehdi to sit down and said, “Respected MP saab, this is the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha session. I suggest you look into the tenure and then speak up. Please ensure what you speak.”
Mehdi continued, “You’ll be remembered when the Bill of abrogation of Article 370 in J&K was placed before this House within a minute and then subsequently passed in 30 minutes”
At this point, Birla muted Mehdi, who was still speaking. “He doesn’t have the knowledge that the bill was debated for nine and a half long hours. Please sit down,” Birla said.
Mehdi was not the only Parliamentarian to be muted. Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) chief and Chidambaram MP Thol. Thirumavalan’s mic was also muted by Birla after he tried to raise a point of the statues of Mahatma Gandhi, and BR Ambedkar being kept in a corner of the Parliament. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media platforms.
You can watch the video here.
House should function well: Rahul
Leader of Opposition, while congratulating Speaker Om Birla said the Opposition wanted the House to function “often and well” and added that it was very important that cooperation happens with trust.
“The opposition would like to assist you in your work. I am confident you will allow us to speak in House,” he said.
Pointing out that this time the opposition represents significantly more voices of the Indian people than last time, Gandhi stressed that it was very important that the voice of the opposition is allowed to be represented in the House.
“I am confident that you will allow us to represent our voice, allow us to speak, to represent the voice of the people of India.”
