The 18th Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of Parliament, kicked off on a discordant note this week, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and the opposition failing to reach a consensus over the choice of speaker of the house. The BJP’s Om Birla, whose controversial tenure as speaker in the last Lok Sabha had been widely criticized, was elected to the post again through voice vote.
The speaker’s post is considered to be a nonpartisan one. Voting for the post has taken place only thrice before; in the first Lok Sabha in 1952, in the fourth in 1967, and again in 1976.
It is not surprising that after a closely contested election, where the ruling BJP failed fell short of a simple majority on its own — it bagged 240 seats of the 543 seats contested — and could muster a majority only with its NDA allies, the opposition INDIA coalition, which secured 234 seats, is not willing to be brow-beaten.
To agree to a consensus on the BJP’s choice of speaker, the INDIA bloc demanded that the post of deputy speaker be given to the opposition. Incidentally, the deputy speaker’s post had been dispensed with in the 17th Lok Sabha where the Modi government enjoyed a brute majority. As a result, the post lay vacant for five years.
According to parliamentary convention, the deputy speaker’s post has been held by a member not from the ruling party but from the opposition. Since the Modi government refused to accede to the INDIA bloc proposal, the opposition announced its own candidate for the speaker’s post — the Congress Party’s K. Suresh. Despite several members from the opposition benches demanding a division of votes, i.e. proper voting procedure, it was overruled and Birla was declared the speaker through vociferous support from the Treasury benches.
The speaker’s post assumes critical significance as the government has a thin majority and depends on allies. The speaker enjoys wide-ranging powers vested in them by the Constitution. Chakshu Roy of the New Delhi-based PRS Legislative Research told the online portal Scroll that under the anti-defection law, the speaker can “make and break governments.” As per this law, the speaker is empowered to decide whether a member of parliament (MP) or legislator who defects from a party should be disqualified or not. When two-thirds of the MPs defect from a party, it is considered to be a split in the political party and not a defection.
In a spirit of camaraderie, the Congress Party’s Rahul Gandhi, the newly appointed leader of the opposition, congratulated Birla and promised cooperation. However, he underscored that the “Opposition represents more the voice of the Indian people than it did last time.” He reminded the speaker that “the question is not how efficiently the house is run but how much of India’s voice is allowed to be heard in this house.”
Akhilesh Yadav, leader of the second largest opposition party, the Samajwadi Party, pointed out that “impartiality is a great responsibility of this great position.” Recalling the shameful episode during the last winter session, when 146 MPs were suspended from both houses of Parliament, Yadav said the opposition hoped that “no such expulsions will take place again.”
These lectures seem to have had no impact on Birla. He continued to selectively haul up opposition members at the slightest pretext while being completely oblivious to remarks by MPs from the Treasury benches.
Dispelling any expectations of objectivity that the opposition might have had of the speaker, Birla echoed Prime Minister Modi, when he raked up the “black days” of the Emergency imposed way back in 1975. He slammed the “dictatorial Congress government of Indira Gandhi” and urged the new MPs to observe two minutes of silence for those who fought against the Emergency.
Expectedly there was an uproar from the Congress benches and the house had to be adjourned.
In his first speech since taking the oath of office, on Monday Modi specifically reminded Parliament about the 50th anniversary of the Emergency. He described it as the “black spot” of Indian democracy and said that the “new generation will not forget how the Indian Constitution was scrapped.”
This was a well-strategized tactic to rebuff the charges of dictatorship that the opposition had leveled against Modi. Significantly, the opposition has successfully projected itself as the protector of the Constitution and citizen’s constitutional rights. By rekindling the draconian Emergency, Modi attempted to demolish that image.
The Congress and other opposition parties hit back, alleging that there has been an “undeclared Emergency since 2014,” when Modi took over the reins as India’s prime minister. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge pointed out that the Modi government had broken up parties and toppled opposition governments, misused federal investigative agencies against 95 percent of opposition leaders, jailed chief ministers, and misused the official machinery to deny the opposition a level playing field in the election. “Is this not [an] undeclared Emergency,” he demanded to know.
Clearly, the Modi government has not done any course correction in the wake of the 2024 election results. Instead, it appears to be digging in its heels.
Despite the opposition’s anger at Birla for his undemocratic and partisan behavior in the last Lok Sabha and demands for him to be replaced, the ruling BJP made it clear that it did not intend to be accommodative. Rather it was at its combative best.
Speaker Birla made no attempts to strike a conciliatory note with the opposition over the past week. Instead, he issued a diktat to the opposition. “When I’m on my legs (i.e. standing), all opposition members must be seated,” he said. He then warned the opposition that he should not have to repeat this in the next five years. His brazen arrogance even got him trending on X.
While taking his oath as MP, when the Congress’ Shashi Tharoor said “Jai Samvidhan” (Hail the Constitution), he was upbraided by the speaker. Party colleague Deepender Hooda vocally supported Tharoor and wanted to know what was wrong in invoking the Constitution. Birla shot back warning Hooda, a five-time MP, not to give him advice. INDIA bloc members then doubled down by chanting “Jai Samvidhan.”
Incidentally, Birla, a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the BJP’s parent organization, did not object to a BJP MP hailing a “Hindu Rashtra” (Hindu nation).
Another face-off between the BJP and the opposition is likely over the post of deputy speaker. The BJP could allot it to its ally, the Telugu Desam Party, but the opposition is determined to wrest the post.
Whether in Parliament or outside, it is business as usual for the BJP. Chief ministers like Arvind Kejriwal continue to be targeted and denied bail. After being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, he has now been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation under fresh charges. Hate crimes too show no signs of abating. The lynching of Muslims continues in BJP-ruled states.
The speaker’s post, regarded as a high constitutional one, has lost its stature and sheen with the incumbent, Birla, being openly and unapologetically partisan toward his party.
The coming days of the current parliamentary session are likely to be stormy ones.