Nishikant Dubey tells Lok Sabha Speaker: Tharoor’s tenure has been controversial… Speaking in Spenserian English in foreign accent does not give one freedom to an individual to disregard parliamentary institutions
Clarion India
NEW DELHI – The controversy involving Facebook, which has put the ruling BJP and the government in the dock, on Thursday took new turn with two senior leaders of the ruling party demanding removal of Shashi Tharoor from the chairmanship of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology. While Nishikant Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, demanding that he be removed, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore also pitched in with a letter, accusing Tharoor of “flouting rules”.
“We are not against representative of any organisation being called, but he (Mr Tharoor) instead of discussing with us, discussed it with the media,” ANI quoted Rathore as saying.
Both Dubey and Tharoor already have given notices for breach of privilege against each other over the issue of Tharoor sending a summon asking the Facebook representatives to appear before the IT panel to give an explanation on the Wall Street Journal report. The report had alleged that the Facebook had ignored hate speech rules for BJP’s anti-Muslim posts fearing a backlash from the ruling dispensation.
Dubey, who is one of the members of the same committee which Tharoor heads, wrote in his letter to the speaker: “Mr Tharoor’s tenure has been controversial… Speaking in Spenserian English in foreign accent does not give one freedom to an individual to disregard parliamentary institutions”.
Dubey has also listed past incidents where according to him Tharoor created controversies. He has accused Tharoor of making remarks on social media on examination of Personal Data Protection Bill by the Joint Select Committee without discussing the matter with the committee members. The list also included the ban on 59 Chinese apps and 4G internet not being available in Jammu and Kashmir, where Tharoor again criticised the government on social media.
Tharoor said the MPs’ panel would consider a testimony under the topic “Safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms”.
Dubey immediately retorted that the Chairman of the Standing Committee “does not have the authority to do anything without discussion of the agenda with its members”. Tharoor, he said in his post, was just pushing the agenda of Congress’s Rahul Gandhi – who was the first to tweet the WSJ report.
Tharoor then moved a notice for breach of privilege, accusing Dubey of making “disparaging remarks” on social media. Dubey responded with a notice against Tharoor and Rahul Gandhi, saying that while the former had “surpassed all limits of decency, ethics and basic tenets of parliamentary procedure”, the latter had “spread fake news and hatred”.
Rathore added his wait to Dubey. He said, “If we go by the book, Tharoor cannot exercise powers without members’ support. Although his explanation is ‘this matter in public interest should be taken up by us.”
Quoting former Secretary General of Lok Sabha PDT Acharaya, Rathore added that under Rule 276, while the committee does not finalise the list of witnesses and it was the privilege of the chairman, the subject has to be under the consideration of the committee and the chair has to take committee into confidence.
Tharoor’s panel has summoned the Facebook for a hearing on the Wall Street Journal report that Ankhi Das, Facebook India’s Policy Director, had opposed applying hate speech rules to the BJP’s T Raja Singh, a Telangana MLA, out of fear of ruining the company’s relationship with the ruling party.
-With input from agencies