We all are aware that the Lok Sabha holds a very important place in the political hierarchy of India and plays a major part in mapping out how our country functions and progresses. Recently, I have been continuously watching the almost all session of proceedings of Lok sabha. Red salute to our LS speaker Om Birla for handling the house in a very nice and planned manner! Really, he is an amiable speaker and has an excellent ability to make connections and control the members in Lok sabha. We have seen him maintaining the discipline and the order in the Lok Sabha and he also acts as a mediator in case of any nasty arguments. He is performing his duties as the Speaker in Lok Sabha as a non-partisan speaker and according to the morals and traditions; a speaker cannot be included in a party or cannot be bounded by any party’s guidelines. Birla had promised to run the House in an impartial manner and to safeguard the interests of the members irrespective of the strength of their parties in the House and he is fulfilling his promise. In his speech, he assures the members that they would be “heard” and that the house responds them. The Speaker is the constitutional and ceremonial head of the House. He is the principal spokesperson of the House. PM Modi deserves a big applause and our country and the members of Lok Sabha are having such a distinguished personality as the Speaker of the House. Om Birla is the product of student politics, who also served as state president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, one of the chief architects of India’s freedom and a moving force behind its Constitution, placed the office of the Speaker in India in the proper context and he rightly said,”The Speaker represents the House. He/she represents the dignity of the House, the freedom of the House and because the House represents the nation, in a particular way, the Speaker becomes a symbol of nation’s freedom and liberty. Therefore, that should be an honoured position, a free position and should be occupied always by persons of outstanding ability and impartiality.” This is true for Om Birla which he deserves while watching his contribution to the smooth conduct of every session.
Om Birla has been in public life for years, starting as a student leader and has been continuously serving the society. He had played a very vital role in the transformation and overall development of Kota in Rajasthan. Om Birla is a member of the Standing Committee on Energy in Parliament, member of Committee on Petitions and Consultative Committee for Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Birla has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since he was a student in school. His public life had started with the post of President of the Students Association in the Gumanpura Senior Secondary School. He later became the joint secretary at the Rajasthan College of Commerce, Kota. He was BJYM Kota district president for over four years. He went on to become the BJYM state president for over six years and then the National Vice President of BJYM for over six years. He is well known in Rajasthan for his welfare and charity initiatives. Birla had also started the project of ‘Rain Basera’ (night shelters) in Kota where the poor and homeless are provided shelter, mattress and blankets for the night during winters.
Our PM Modi has also remembered his long association with the newly elected Speaker. He underlined Om Birla’s dedication to service and his contributions towards the rebuilding efforts in Kutch after the earthquake and Kedarnath after the floods. Modi also assured the Speaker that he would receive full cooperation of the members in conducting the proceedings of the House successfully.
People of India had also expected Om Birla to be “more responsible and answerable in the House” and that what we see today.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
