Ruckus over Anurag Thakur’s speech, Congress moves Privilege Motion against PM Modi

August 1, 2024

New Delhi: The debate over caste census in the country’s Parliament is going on. Meanwhile, the Congress has given a notice to bring a privilege motion against PM Modi for posting the video of MP Anurag Thakur’s speech on X. Opposition leaders objected when Anurag Thakur tried to hit out at Rahul Gandhi. The speech of Anurag Thakur shared PM Narendra Modi includes the issue of the portion allegedly removed from the proceedings of the House. During his speech on the budget in the Lok Sabha, some comments of BJP MP Anurag Thakur were removed by Speaker Om Birla. A comment by Anurag Thakur on Rahul Gandhi regarding the demand related to caste census had created a ruckus.

On the other hand, a notice of privilege violation has been brought against Home Minister Amit Shah in the Rajya Sabha. At the same time, three MPs of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from Kerala have requested Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to direct Union Home Minister Amit Shah to clarify his statement during the attention motion on the Wayanad tragedy. Shah had said- ‘The state ignored the weather alert of the Center.’

There are some rules to run the proceedings of Parliament. Some rules give some rights to the MPs. However, there is no codified list of these privileges. But it includes the right to free expression during parliamentary debate so that MPs are not liable for court proceedings on it.

Congress MP from Punjab Charanjit Singh Channi has given a notice of breach of privilege against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Congress MP has objected to tweeting the expunged part of Anurag Thakur’s speech. Now Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has to decide whether to bring a motion against the Prime Minister or not.

Charanjit Channi, Lok Sabha member from Jalandhar, Punjab, has claimed in this notice that Prime Minister Modi shared a video of that part of Thakur’s speech on the social media platform ‘X’ which was removed from the proceedings of the House. He alleged that this step of Prime Minister Modi is a violation of the privilege of the House.