The Lok Sabha was chaotic today when Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi tried reading passages of the unpublished memoir of the former Indian Army Chief General MM Naravane as the current Budget session was underway. Gandhi was only able to utter four words, that is, Chinese tanks in Doklam, when his speech was cut short by those on the treasury benches. The disturbance soon grew into a regular ruckus in the lower house, and caused the Speaker to adjourn business first to 3 pm, and afterwards at 4 pm.
Bhartiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey responded to this incident by reiterating the constitutional and parliamentary regulations that control speech in the Lok Sabha. He quoted Article 105 of the Constitution that affirms the liberties of speech in Parliament, but also permits the Speaker to make rules to govern conduct in parliament. According to Dubey, though Article 19 claims the right to freedom of speech, there are also provisions that urge MPs not to debate on issues that may damage international relations especially with the neighbour countries and not to jeopardize national security. He also indicated that the Rule 349 of the Parliament does not allow quoting books or newspapers in a debate, and he criticized Gandhi in doing so without due checking of the origin of the speech.
Conversely, the Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha justified the effort of Gandhi by saying that the actions of the government made the government weak. Jha indicated that the ruling party in objecting to the excerpts showed a lack of readiness to bring availed sensitive issues to the surface of the open arena, and thus, the very act of objecting to the excerpts was of a political nature.
The incident has raised a controversy on the extent of parliamentary speech and the value of free speech against national security and this has posed a question on the extent and understanding of the rules governing the discussion within the Lok Sabha.
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