In his congratulatory remarks for newly elected Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had a terse message: “expect that no public representative's voice will be stifled”.
Yadav expressed hope that suspension and expulsion of MPs don't take place in the new Lok Sabha. He said suspension of MPs hurt the dignity of the House.
"We expect that no public representative's voice will be stifled, nor will action like expulsion take place again. Your control is on the Opposition, but it should be on the ruling side too," he said.
Akhilesh Yadav’s remarks to Birla are seen in reference to the record suspension of MPs in the last winter session of the Parliament.
The two-minute speech of Akhilesh Yadav was laced with sarcasm and sharp messages to the Lok Sabha Speaker.
The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also hoped the Speaker would be impartial towards the Opposition, adding that "impartiality is a great responsibility of this great post".
"The House should function on your signals and not the other way round. We stand with all your just decisions... I hope that you will respect the opposition as much as you respect the ruling dispensation," he said.
"You're sitting here as the chief justice of the court of democracy," Akhilesh Yadav said.
Earlier in the day, Om Birla defeated K Suresh, the opposition INDIA bloc's contender, via voice vote in the rare election for the Speaker's post. This was the first such poll since 1976.
The eight-day session of the 18th Lok Sabha commenced on Monday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and all the other MPs taking oath as members of the Lower House of Parliament.
