India’s Parliament removes parts of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech targeting Modi
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Among the sections removed from the speech were Mr Gandhi’s attacks on Mr Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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NEW DELHI - Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi’s first speech in the new Parliament ran into controversy with parts of it, including accusations against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party, redacted on July 2 for violating the rules of the legislature.
The decision by the Speaker of the Lower House came a day after Mr Gandhi made his maiden speech as leader of the opposition in the chambers, his first official position after two decades as a lawmaker
Among the sections removed from the speech, which was telecast live by TV channels, were the attacks on Mr Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and what Mr Gandhi said were their links to religious hate and violence.
He also made multiple references to industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani and linked them to Mr Modi and his government; these were removed by Speaker Om Birla, Parliament records showed.
Following the speech, federal ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Kiren Rijiju told reporters that they met Mr Birla to point out “inaccuracies” in Mr Gandhi’s speech and were assured their complaint would be examined.
Under Indian parliamentary rules, the Speaker can expunge or redact words used by lawmakers in the chambers that are deemed defamatory, indecent, unparliamentary or undignified, following which they cease to exist in Parliament’s records and can no longer be reported by the media.
Responding to the Speaker’s decision, Mr Gandhi said “truth cannot be expunged”.
He wrote to Mr Birla requesting the redacted remarks be restored, saying they were not violations and conveyed the “ground reality” and “factual position”.
“Taking off from records my considered remarks goes against the very tenets of parliamentary democracy,” he said.
The scion of a dynasty that gave India three prime ministers, Mr Gandhi is the first leader of the opposition in a decade in the Lower House, where no opposition party was able to secure the numbers to claim the position in the last two terms.
Mr Gandhi led an opposition alliance of two dozen parties that challenged and denied Mr Modi an outright majority
