Privilege Motion and Rahul Gandhi's 'unparliamentary' behavior
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New Delhi, Feb 13: Few days back, Rahul Gandhi led his party members and others for a two minute silence in the light of the death of farmers who lost their life in the ongoing farmers' protest against the farm laws. Rahul Gandhi's act was followed by BJP MPs Sanjay Jaiswal and PP Chaudhary claims where Rahul Gandhi was alleged to have shown an 'unparliamentary' behavior and passed the breach of privilege motion against him.
The Breach of Privilege means violation of any of the privileges of Members of Parliament (MPs). It includes any action that casts reflections on MPs, parliament or its committees. The actions include publishing any news items or editorials; any statements made in newspaper or magazine or TV interviews or any statements made in public speeches by the MPs. The breach of privilege is checked upon in accordance with the Article 105 of the India constitution in Parliament while in case of state legislature the motion is passed in accordance with the Article 194.
The motion is also governed by rule no 222 of chapter 20 in the Lok Sabha. While in case of Rajya Sabha, it is governed by rule no 187 in chapter 16 of the rule book. These rules governing the Breach of Privilege mandate that the notice should be related to the incident of recent occurrence. It should also need the intervention of the House. The member can raise question on the motion of breach of privilege or contempt of the house after having consent of the Speaker. According to the rule, the notice regarding it should be given before 10 am to the Speaker or the Chairperson.
The Speaker or the Rajya Sabha chairperson at first scrutinize any privilege motion. They can either decide on the privilege motion or refer it to the privileges committee of the Parliament for further considerations. In Lok Sabha, the privilege committee is nominated by the Speaker consisting of 15 members. While in Rajya Sabha, Chairperson nominates the privilege committee comprising of 10 members.
BJP MPs Sanjay Jaiswal, PP Chowdhary, along with Nishikant Dubey and Meenakshi Lekhi gave notice, citing "serious breach of privilege and contempt of the House on Feb 11, 2021", to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla who also took it up. When Rahul Gandhi asked the parliament to maintain two minutes silence for the loss of farmers, the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla objected stating, “If you wish to discuss something, give it to me in writing and I will allot time, but allow me to run the House.” The Speaker said, "Everybody has respect for farmers. However, I have a responsibility to the House as per rules and procedure." Rahul Gandhi has been subject to the accusation of breach of privilege in parliament due to continuation of his political stunt while the Lower house was in session, despite of the Speaker's objection.
