It was seen again when the Samajwadi Party chief, Akhilesh Yadav, and the Home Minister of India, Amit Shah, had a heated debate in the parliamentary House over the Restricted rights of the Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla.
During the debate on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill in the House, Mr Yadav audaciously declared that the Speaker’s rights were being ‘stripped off’ and that it was now the opposition’s battle to ‘fight for him’.
Shah vehemently dismissed the comments made by Yadav, stating that it was an insult to the Chair. The Home minister vowed that the Speaker’s rights were those of the whole house, as opposed to the side of the opposition.
An employee came to a point of saying something about the Chair, and Birla interrupted and said, “Let me caution everybody that no personal remarks should be made on the Chair. ”
The exchange took place during the discussion on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which the Samajwadi Party, supported by the other opposition parties, has been protesting against. Yadav said the legislation was part of the BJP government’s ‘projected good politics’ to satisfy its Hindu RSS extreme wing.
The suggested changes entail integrating women into the Waqf bodies and requiring the boards to utilize the funds for the benefit of widows, divorcees, and orphans, as recommended by the government. Of equal concern has been the issue of integrating non-Muslim members in the Waqf-related organizations/boards.
