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NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi on Sunday said political parties driven by selfish interests and arrogance have been targeting the position of Lok Sabha Speaker since 2014, when he first assumed office and Sumitra Mahajan occupied the chair, and accused them of being unable to digest the ascendancy of a new leader. “Some people with nepotistic and feudal mindset look at democratic institutions through their narrow mindset. They cannot easily accept the rise of any new person,” he wrote to Om Birla days after opposition’s motion for his removal as the Speaker was defeated and painted his opponents as viscerally antagonistic to occupants of high offices unaffiliated to them. While PM Modi took aim at Congress and its allies for turning their democratic disagreement into disrespect for institutions and praised Birla’s emphasis on no one being above rules in his statement after the motion’s defeat, the Speaker, in turn, lauded the PM’s commitment to democratic values.
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With the governing NDA rallying to his defence and Modi himself taking the lead, Birla also wrote a letter to leaders of different political parties, underlining his concern over protests inside and outside Parliament in violation of rules and calling for discipline, in a message pointedly aimed at opposition MPs who have been bringing banners and placards to Lok Sabha and demonstrating at the main entrance of the House. Some members, he said, are dealing a blow to the dignity of parliamentary democracy. “The time has come when we need to do serious reflection and introspection to maintain the dignity and prestige of our democratic institutions. In particular, the leadership of all political parties and their leaders in the House will have to make special efforts to ensure discipline and high moral conduct inside the House and within the Parliament complex among their members,” he said. The letters, from PM Modi to Birla and then from Birla to political parties, come amid frequent protests from opposition MPs in Lok Sabha, which have often led to untimely adjournments. In his reply thanking PM Modi, Birla praised his unwavering trust in democratic rules and traditions, saying he has practised them through his long public life, including as Gujarat CM. “You have always put deep trust in the parliamentary values of dialogue, debate and deliberations,” he told PM Modi.PM Modi, in his letter, praised Birla for his statement in Lok Sabha on Friday in which he had emphasised that the rules are same for all and leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi will not get any special privilege. His statement dwelling on India’s parliamentary history and the Speaker’s responsibility offered a deep and effective explanation, Modi said. “Its constitutional institutions are the biggest strength of Indian democracy. Parliament is the supreme platform of these institutions,” he added. Earlier too, he said, when Mahajan occupied the chair, some members did not behave in a manner expected of them. “Even then unwarranted bitterness and disrespect towards the chair were visible on many occasions.”
