‘Selective expunction’ defies logic: Rahul seeks restoration of LS remarks

Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, has written to Speaker Om Birla over portions of his speech in the House from the day before being expunged. Arguing that “selective expunction” defies logic, Rahul has sought that the remarks be restored.

In his first speech as the Lok Sabha LoP, Rahul on Monday (July 1) launched a no-holds-barred attack on the BJP, accusing its leaders of dividing people along communal lines. However, certain remarks he made during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address were later expunged.

Rahul’s letter

In his letter to Birla on Tuesday (July 2), Rahul said while the Chair derives powers to expunge certain remarks from the proceedings of the House, the stipulation is that only those kinds of words, the nature of which have been specified in Rule 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, can be expunged.

“I am, however, shocked to note the manner in which considerable portions of my speech have been simply taken off from the proceedings under the garb of expunction,” the former Congress chief said.

“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 the ground reality and the factual position. 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,” Rahul said.

Anurag Thakur’s example

He asserted that it is every member’s right to raise people’s concerns on the floor of the House. “It is that right and in exercise of my obligations to the people of the country, that I was exercising yesterday,” he said.

“Taking off from records my considered remarks goes against the very tenets of parliamentary democracy,” Rahul wrote in the letter to Birla.

“In this context, I also wish to draw attention to the speech of Shri Anurag Thakur, whose speech was full of allegations. However, surprisingly, only one word has been expunged,” he wrote.

“Truth will prevail”

“With due respect to your good self, this selective expunction defies logic. I request that the remarks expunged from the proceedings be restored,” he wrote.

Speaking with reporters outside the Parliament complex, Rahul said truth can be expunged in the world of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but not in reality. “Whatever I had to say, I have said and that is the truth. They can expunge as much as they want, but the truth will prevail,” he asserted.

(With agency inputs)