Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary on Thursday wrote to Speaker Om Birla urging him to release Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the House in its entirety in the larger interest of the nation. He said a large part of Gandhi’s speech on Tuesday during the debate on the motion of thanks for the President’s address had been removed, making it “unintelligible”.
He said that in his speech Gandhi had mentioned certain facts about matters relating to the Hindenburg Report on the Adani Group.
The former Congress president also asked the prime minister several questions on the subject, but in the wrong debates released by the general secretary, much of Gandhi’s speech was removed in such a way that it “became unintelligible”, Chowdhury said.
“The Constitution guarantees that there will be freedom of speech in Parliament,” he noted in his letter to the Speaker of Parliament.
The freedom of expression available to MPs under Article 105(1) is broader in scope than the right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, he noted.
“After granting freedom of speech to MPs, the Constitution emphasizes the fact that said freedom is absolute and unlimited. This unlimited power given to the elected representatives in my understanding is due to the fact that the members, when they speak in points, are serving the interests of the people of this country,” Chowdhury said.
He said that Article 105 of the Constitution confers immunity, inter alia, in respect of “anything said in Parliament”, the word “anything” having the widest meaning and being equivalent to “all”.
The only limitation is the words ‘in Parliament’, which means during the session of Parliament and during the proceedings of Parliament. This view has been supported by various judgments of the Supreme Court from time to time.
The chairman of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee said “In view of the above and in the larger interest of the nation, Rahul Gandhi’s speech should be made public in its entirety as it serves a great public purpose”.
“In view of the above, I request you to kindly reconsider your decision to edit Rahul Gandhi’s speech,” Chowdhury urged the spokesperson. Several parts of Gandhi’s speech were struck out by the speaker later on the night of February 7.
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