Birla election as Speaker is unanimous

New Delhi: Two-time BJP MP from Kota and NDA nominee Om Birla was on Wednesday unanimously elected Speaker of the Lok Sabha with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Opposition leaders assuring him of their whole-hearted support in the smooth conduct of proceedings in the House.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, the DMK’s T.R. Baalu and the Trinamul Congress’ Sudip Bandyopadhyay were among those who backed Mr Birla and urged him to be an impartial as presiding officer.

“I on behalf of the government and the treasury benches assure you full support in conducting the House. I also assure you that your orders will prevail and you must be tough even if anyone from our side (treasury benches) crosses the limit,” Mr Modi said while congratulating Mr Birla.

The Prime Minister heaped praise on the two-time BJP MP for his long public life, going back to his student days, and recalled his social work in Kota, Rajasthan, and in other parts of the country, including during the 2011 earthquake in Gujarat and the 2013 floods in Uttarakhand.

Mr Birla assured the members that he will run the House in an impartial way and everyone will be heard. “I have been a member like you from 2014 to 2019. And here we should raise issues which matter to the last person standing in the row,” he said.

The 56-year-old, considered close to both Mr Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, succeeds eight-term MP Sumitra Mahajan as Speaker, a post that is traditionally held by senior MPs.

Extending his wholehearted support to Mr Birla, Mr Chowdhury urged him to be impartial and give the Opposition enough time to raise issues of public interest. He said the presiding officer was the custodian of the House, which according to Jawaharlal Nehru represents the nation and freedom of the country.

Mr Chowdhury also expressed concern over very few bills being referred to standing committees by the Lok Sabha and hoped for a reversal of the trend. Referring to slogan-shouting in the House during the oath-taking of MPs, the Congress leader said the House had seen in the last two days various religious slogans like “Jai Shri Ram” and “Allah-o-Akbar”. He said that the social fabric of the country will be strengthened only when people respect all religious faiths.

There was no candidate in the fray other than Mr Birla and the motion moved by the Prime Minister to elect the Kota-Bundi MP as Speaker was adopted by a voice vote. A total of 13 motions were moved in support of Mr Birla.

Since the motion moved by Mr Modi, also the Leader of the House, was adopted, the other motions became infructuous. Mr Birla was declared elected by pro-tem speaker Virendra Kumar.

Mr Modi led the new Speaker to the presiding officer’s chair. Several leaders from the BJP, Congress, DMK and TMC went up the podium to greet the new Speaker.

Mr Birla, a surprise pick for the post, won his first Lok Sabha election in 2014 and was again elected this year from Rajasthan’s Kota-Bundi seat.

The Prime Minister said Kota had become “Kashi (hub) of education”. He added: “Kota has become kind of a small country and the transformation of Kota has taken place under your leadership.”

There is a perception that people in political life only abuse each other but the reality of their social service never comes to light, Mr Modi said. “The days of hardcore politics are gradually passing out,” he said