Speaking falsely, Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders claiming Modi administration had “banned” particular words
PAROMITA DAS
The Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla, has made it clear that no word has been forbidden from use in Parliament following a backlash from the opposition parties over phrases deemed “Unparliamentary” for use in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He continued by saying that members were free to express their opinions in any language as long as they respect the House’s decorum.
Prior to the monsoon session, the Lok Sabha secretariat reportedly published a booklet that contained language that would be viewed as unparliamentarily in both houses of parliament.
It was stated that phrases like “jumlajeevi,” “baal buddhi,” “Covid spreader,” “Snoopgate,” “ashamed,” “abused,” “betrayed,” “corrupt,” “drama,” “hypocrisy,” “incompetent,” “anarchist,” “Shakuni,” “dictatorial,” “taanashah,” “taanashahi,” “Jaichand,” “vinash pur
This led to attacks on the Modi government from opposition parties, who labeled it a ban on the use of the words. “What is the point of parliament if you can’t be creative in your criticism,” tweeted Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi. When Jumlajeevi is not present, what is the situation? It is wrong to ban words!
Additionally, tweeting that “words used in discussions and debates which accurately describe the PM’s handling of the government, now banned from being spoken,” Rahul Gandhi, who is on yet another vacation, claimed. Additionally, he asserted that the words on the list are now forbidden and cannot be spoken.
Other opposition politicians have made similar claims, claiming that the government has outlawed certain words.
Om Birla, the Speaker, has clarified that no word has been forbidden from speaking, and the unparliamentary words booklet has been published as in previous years. Additionally, he said that although the booklet had previously been printed, they had decided to publish it online in order to reduce paper waste.
Om Birla made it clear that the booklet only contains a collection of phrases that have previously been struck from records of the assembly or the parliament. “It’s a routine practise continuing since 1959,” he said, adding that the opposition would have known that it was released on a regular basis if they had read the 1100-page dictionary of unparliamentarily terms.
He emphasized that “no words have been banned” and said that no one could take away members of legislative houses freedom to express their opinions. But they should do so in accordance with the decorum of the chamber. He refuted claims made by the opposition that the order is a gag order, claiming that people who are not familiar with parliamentary procedures are making all kinds of remarks. The legislatures are independent of the executive branch, he added.
According to Om Birla’s clarification, using the words listed in the booklet of “Unparliamentarily Words” is not prohibited, but the speaker may order their removal from the proceedings’ records if they are used in the house. Therefore, there is no word ban and the order is not a gag order.
Om Birla further clarified that not all uses of the words inside the home result in their automatic deletion. He claimed that decisions about word deletion are made while taking the context and other members’ objections into consideration. Every year, the list is updated, and this year, 62 new words are said to have been added. It’s significant that the words were added because they were removed from parliament or legislative assembly records. So, contrary to what the opposition claims, the Modi government is not complying with it. It is noteworthy that several states have non-BJP, non-NDA governments, meaning that words purged from those states’ assemblies have also been added to the booklet.
Many of the “unparliamentarily” terms that have been used by the opposition to criticize the government and highlighted in media reports were already on the list of prohibited words before the Modi administration even took office.
State assemblies contributed a large number of the new words that are included in the list. Words like “Lollipops,” “gossip,” “hooliganism,” “humiliated,” “Shame,” and “Shameful,” among others, were banned by the Punjab Assembly last year when the Congress party controlled the state. Atam, Shatam, Aksham, and Anpadh, Anargal were banned from the assemblies of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, respectively.
Similar to this, the booklet contains a number of words that were omitted from assemblies of other states, including states that were not governed by the NDA. The book also includes phrases and words that were omitted from the records of parliaments in other nations, primarily Commonwealth countries.
The majority of these words, according to a member of the parliament, were deemed unparliamentarily even under the UPA administration. The officer stated that the Chair of either house had the authority to strike any words that were deemed offensive or inconsistent with the decorum and dignity of Parliament.
It’s noteworthy that the book is just a collection of the words; there are no suggestions or orders. The handbook only serves as a guide for members regarding which phrases might be deemed impermissible; it does not forbid members from using those phrases. But if it is determined to be unparliamentarily, given the circumstances, they might be deleted.
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