Mahua Moitra, a TMC MP, said, “Democracy is under attack, and no opposition leader is allowed to speak in Parliament.”
Mahua Moitra, an MP for the Trinamool Congress, has gotten angry with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and accused him of not letting any MP from the Opposition speak in Parliament. Moitra said that the speaker is “leading from the front” and that democracy is “under attack” under the current regime.
In a late-night tweet on Wednesday, Moitra wrote, “Speaker Om Birla allowed ONLY BJP ministers to speak on mike for last three days and then adjourned parliament without letting a single opposition member speak.” Democracy IS being hurt. And the person speaking is in charge. And I’m ready to go to jail because of this tweet.”
Last 3 days saw speaker @ombirlakota allow ONLY BJP ministers to speak on mike & then adjourn parliament with not single opposition member being allowed to speak.
Democracy IS under attack. And the speaker leads from the front. And I am willing to go to jail for this tweet.— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) March 15, 2023
In the last three days, the speaker of parliament, @ombirlakota, only let BJP ministers speak on the mic and then closed parliament without letting a single opposition member speak.
Democracy IS being hurt. And the person speaking is in charge. And I’m ready to go to jail because of this tweet.
In her tweet, she echoed what Adhir Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, said in a letter to Birla in which he made similar claims about the last three days of Parliament.
As the BJP government continued to corner the Congress in Parliament on Wednesday, demanding that MP Rahul Gandhi apologise for his recent comments in London, Chowdhury wrote a letter to the Speaker saying that his microphone had been muted for the last three days.
Chowdhury said he was writing the letter “with a heavy heart and a deep sense of anguish” because of “government-sponsored disruption in the House.” “It makes me very sad to see that the Government has been causing trouble in the House since March 13, 2023, when the House met again after a break. “It seems to me that there is a well-planned plot by the ruling party to hurt the reputation of an opposition party member (Sh Rahul Gandhi),” he said.
Chowdhury added, “What bothers me even more is that the ministers themselves are the loudest ones who try to stop the meeting from going on. The voices of the leaders of the parties in opposition are not heard at all.”
The Congress then pointed out to the Speaker that his microphone was “muted” and said that Gandhi’s statements on the subject were “substantiated.”
