New Delhi, March 16, 2020 –
Former Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla of “hurting” his parliamentary rights by restricting him to ask question from the government about the top 50 wilful bank defaulters.
Gandhi launched the allegation against Birla following the Question Hour in which he raised a supplementary question on wilful defaulters.
Speaking to the media after the Question Hour, Gandhi said there is a process that supplementary question can be asked by a parliamentarian and that was exactly he did.
However, when he came out to speak to the media he said: “I asked the question about 500 wilful defaulters. I am hurt that my parliamentary right to ask a supplementary question was restricted by the Speaker.”
“As an MP, my rights were compromised. But the question is why the government is saving those wilful defaulters,” Gandhi said inside the Parliament premises.
During the Question Hour, Gandhi had asked supplementary question when Question No 305 regarding “Wilful defaulters” was read.
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Asking the government, Gandhi said, “The Indian economy is going through a very difficult period. Our banking system is practically not working any more. Banks are failing. And I think more banks are going to fail as a result of the current global situation.
“The central cause of this failure of banks and the central cause of unemployment is the hollowing out. This is because of stealing of money from the banks by a large number of people.
“I had asked a very simple question. Who are the top 50 willful defaulters? I was not replied properly. Prime Minister said that those stolen money from Indian Banks will be caught. I asked the name of 50 willful defaulters and I could not get the names. My first question is what the names of those 50 defaulters are.”
Meanwhile, treasury benches created ruckus and the Speaker gave chance to another MP to raise other question and Gandhi could not get a chance to put his point properly.
There was a brief verbal discussion between Gandhi and the Speaker when the Congress leader was directed by the chair to come on his point and not try to speak like an “advocate”. (Agency)
