New Delhi: After an opposition uproar over certain commonly used words being declared unparliamentary, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Speaker Om Birla on Thursday, seeking the withdrawal of the same. In his letter to the speaker, Chowdhury pointed out that the Lok Sabha Secretariat has brought out a new booklet, listing words such as "ashamed", "abused", "betrayed", "corrupt", "drama", "hypocrisy" and "incompetent" as unparliamentary, and said it is a matter of serious parliamentary concern.
"I would like to point out that there are so many common words used in our day-to-day conversation, which have been included in the fresh list. If these words are taken out of the general vocabulary, the very essence and the impact of expression would be minimised. "Further, the Lok Sabha Secretariat should have mentioned the substitutes for these banned words so that it would have been easier for all of us to use the substitutes," he said.
Also read:'No word banned, have only removed some objected to': Speaker Om Birla on row over unparliamentary words
The Congress leader also pointed out that this "sensitive matter" should have been discussed in the Rules Committee, where all the political parties are represented. "None of the political parties has been consulted on this sensitive matter. In view of the above, I shall request you to put this latest list of unparliamentary words in abeyance and a final list may be prepared in consultation with all political parties," he told the speaker in his letter.
Opposition parties slammed the BJP-led Centre over the "gag order" on using certain words in Parliament, insisting indignantly that every expression used by them to describe how the saffron party is destroying the country has now been declared unparliamentary. The clamour forced Birla to step in to soothe frayed tempers by making it clear that no word has been banned from use in Parliament but will be expunged on a contextual basis. The members are free to express their views while maintaining the decorum of the House, the speaker said.
