New Delhi: Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was suspended by Speaker Om Birla on August 10 for 'misconduct' and will face the privileges committee on Saturday defended himself and said that the option of legal recourse was open to him.
“I have been hanged and now I will be tried. I have not said anything which is unparliamentary. The use of the Hindi word ‘Nirav’ is commonly used by people in everyday conversations. They are trying to create a mountain out of a mole,” Chowdhury told ETV Bharat. "I don’t want to comment on the decision of the Speaker as he is the custodian of the House but the legal option of going to the Supreme Court is open before us,” he said.
Chowdhury was responding to the comment made by another party MP Manish Tewari that the Congress Lok Sabha leader’s suspension was a fit case for legal recourse in the top court. “It is a retrogressive step. It will undermine the spirit of parliamentary democracy. This is a peculiar situation in Parliament,” said Chowdhury, who represents Berhampur constituency in West Bengal.
The Congress MP said he will appear before the privileges committee if called to depose. “We as a party follow the rules. I will also follow the rules. If they will call me, I will certainly appear before the committee,” said Chowdhury. The Lok Sabha MP further said that a minister was seeking his apology over the alleged remark in the house due to vengeance.
“Why should I apologize? Nobody told me I had to apologize when I was speaking in the house. If I had been allowed to complete my speech, I would have explained my remarks. The minister is seeking my apology out of vengeance. Why should I apologize,” he said. The Congress leader in the Lok Sabha defended the walk-out by the parties belonging to the opposition block INDIA when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was replying to the no-confidence motion in the house on August 10.
“What else could we do? The entire opposition had been seeking the PM’s response over the burning Manipur issue since the session started. We thought the PM would talk about the Manipur issue as it was the main reason behind the no-confidence motion. The opposition had to bring that motion as the PM was not coming to the House. He is the leader of the house and the BJP has a majority there. We heard the PM for two hours and walked out in protest when he did not find a mention of Manipur,” said Chowdhury.
“Even the treasury bench MPs were seen taking a nap during the PM’s speech,” he said. The Congress leader said it was a first in India that a prime minister was compelled to come to the Lok Sabha through a parliamentary instrument like the no-confidence motion. “It is the first. He should have come to the House. When he entered the Parliament for the first time in 2014, he had bowed his head at the entrance of the Parliament House,” Chowdhury said.
“The PM does not like the word INDIA. It makes him uncomfortable,” he added.
