Absolute insult, says Rahul on oppn not allowed to ask question

Former Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday slammed the Lok Sabha Speaker for not allowing the Tamil Nadu parliamentarians to raise the issue of Tamil language and described it as an "absolute insult" to people of Tamil Nadu.

Speaking to reporters in Parliament premises here, Rahul Gandhi said, "Yesterday I asked a question about the 50 largest wilful defaulters. Procedure is if you ask a question then you are allowed a supplementary question."

The Congress MP from Kerala's Wayanad said that he understands that the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla does not want him to speak in the House. "I am an MP and I have certain rights that he can't take away. But today the entire Tamil people wanted to ask the question over Tamil language. He snatched the rights of the MPs during the debate on language," he said.

"Tamil, which has a history and which is in their DNA, Speaker did not allow them to ask questions. Its an attack on their language, their rights. This is unacceptable and is absolute insult to the Tamil people," he said.

The Congress leader further said that the Lok Sabha House is for all and a discussion should take place. "And now a days there are no discussions, no one is allowed to ask questions. It is now one way traffic and it has become a loudspeaker," he said. IANS