Decode Politics: Rahul Gandhi, Om Birla again face off over Parliament mics. Who controls them?
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi speaks in the Lok Sabha during ongoing Parliament session. (PTI)
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi speaks in the Lok Sabha during ongoing Parliament session. (PTI)
Written by Sanjana Suchdev
For the second time in the new Parliament Session, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi claimed that his mic had been switched off in the House.
Rahul made the claim during his first address as the Leader of the Opposition on Monday, after his remarks that the BJP promoted violence set off a bedlam. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla reiterated in response that presiding officers do not have any switch or remote control to turn off the microphones of members in the House, and objected to members “casting aspersions on the Chair” by alleging that this was done when they rose to speak.
“The Chair only gives ruling / directives. The member whose name is called gets to speak in the House. The mic is controlled as per the directives of the Chair. The person sitting in the Chair does not have a remote control or a switch for the microphones,” he said.
Pointing out that members of all political parties have representation on the panel of chairpersons who preside over the proceedings in the absence of the Speaker, Birla said: “At least those who occupy the Chair should not raise such objections.”
Who administers the mics in Parliament?
A manual put out by the Lok Sabha Secretariat in May 2014 says that each MP is provided an individual microphone and a switch set at their specific desks, with each of these desks numbered based on the designated seat numbers of members. Each switch board contains switches in different colours. A grey switch can be pressed for a request to speak. The microphones on the desks, with an LED, light up red when the mic is activated.
parliament session
New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla conducts procedings in the House during ongoing Parliament session, in New Delhi, Monday, July 1, 2024. (PTI Photo)
So, when a member wants to speak, the manual notes, they have to raise their hand to indicate the same to the Speaker, while pressing the grey button. The mic is “activated from the control room only when the member has been permitted by the Speaker to speak”, the manual notes.
This is indicated in two ways: with the LED ring going red and the LED on top of the microphone also going red.
Where does the current controversy stem from?
Last week, Rahul claimed that his microphone was switched off as he tried to raise the issue of NEET irregularities. In his statement, Gandhi said, “There has been a disaster… Everyone knows the paper was leaked… Students were hurt… I tried to raise it in Parliament… I wasn’t allowed to speak.”
Is it the first time the Congress has alleged that mics of its members in the House were switched off?
During the course of his Bharat Jodo Yatra from September 2022 to January 2023, Rahul Gandhi asserted several times that he was compelled to hit the streets as the government was “choking” the voice of the Opposition by not even letting elected members speak in Parliament.
In February 2023, after Rahul gave a 52-minute-long speech in the Lok Sabha, Birla, who was the Speaker in the previous Parliament as well, noted this, saying: “We should refrain (now) from commenting outside the House that the Speaker switches off the microphone.”
Rahul responded, saying: “But Speaker Sir, it’s a reality that you switch off the microphone.”
A month later, in March 2023, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the then Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, wrote to Birla saying that his microphone had been muted for three days. “I am deeply disheartened to observe that ever since the House resumed after the break on March 13, 2023, there has been a government-sponsored disruption in the House. It appears to me that there is a well-hatched conspiracy on the part of the party in power to tarnish the image of an individual member of an Opposition Party (Sh Rahul Gandhi),” he said.
Days later, on March 17, the Congress alleged that microphones of the House were muted for 20 minutes. Sharing a video on its official Twitter account, the Congress wrote: “Earlier the mike used to be off, today the proceedings of the House have been muted. The house is mute for PM Modi’s ‘friend’.” The Opposition was at the time demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee report into the Adani Group in light of the Hindenburg report on the business group’s financial dealings.
In the 21 minutes that the House functioned that day, there was no audio link for all but 1.20 minutes. The Lok Sabha Secretariat said this was due to a “technical glitch” at the official broadcaster’s end, but the Congress said it was another move to “silence voices in Parliament”.
Around this time, speaking at an event at the British House of Parliament, Rahul talked of Opposition leaders back home being “silenced” to stop them from speaking. The BJP criticised him for making such statements while abroad.
Has the row been confined to the Lok Sabha?
During the passage of the three farm Bills (later withdrawn) in September 2020, the audio feed of Rajya Sabha TV was disrupted briefly. The Central Public Works Department, which maintains the Parliament Building, had blamed it on the damage caused to microphones at the Chairman’s seat by some MPs who were protesting over the Bills.
The legislation had been later passed amidst a bedlam.
In July 2023, during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed he was “insulted” after his mic was turned off while he was speaking in the House. “It was a breach of my privilege… My self-respect has been challenged. If the House is run on the instructions of the government, I understand that it is not a democracy,” Kharge said, with Opposition MPs supporting him.
Later, Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar attacked Rahul over his comments, saying “shutting off the Opposition” was a thing done during the “black chapter of the Emergency”. “It is not possible now.”
Does a breach of privilege claim hold?
The powers, privileges and immunities of either House of Parliament and of its Members and committees are laid down in Article 105 of the Constitution. Article 194 deals with the powers, privileges and immunities of the State Legislatures, their Members and their committees.
While the Constitution has accorded special privileges and powers to parliamentarians and legislators so as “to maintain the dignity and authority of the Houses”, these powers and privileges are not codified. Thus, there are no clear, notified rules to decide what constitutes a breach of privilege, and the punishment it attracts.
It is a breach of privilege and contempt of the House to make speeches or to print or publish libel reflecting on the character or proceedings of the House, or its Committees, or on any member of the House for or relating to his character or conduct as a legislator.
The writer is an intern with The Indian Express
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