Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on Bharat Mata expunged. What does this mean?

It was a blockbuster of a day in Lok Sabha yesterday (9 August). The no-confidence motion brought against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of the ongoing violence in Manipur saw Congress’ newly-reinstated Rahul Gandhi as well as BJP’s ministers Smriti Irani and Amit Shah speaking on Tuesday.

After some confusion of whether he would or not initiate the proceedings in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Congress’ Rahul Gandhi tore into the Narendra Modi government over its handling of the violence in Manipur, alleging the politics of the BJP has “murdered Bharat Mata” in the state.

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Hours after he delivered his speech, which focused on the “nafrat vs mohabbat” (hatred vs love) line of attack, parts of it were expunged from the House on the orders of the Chair. But what does it mean to expunge a part of a speech? What are the rules around it? And what did Rahul say that has now been expunged?

What does it mean to expunge remarks and what are the rules?

When an MP’s speech, either in part or whole is expunged, it means the removal from the records of Parliament.

Under Article 105 (2) of the Constitution, “no Member of Parliament shall be liable to any proceedings in any court in respect of anything said… in Parliament or any committee thereof”. However, MPs don’t enjoy the full freedom to say whatever they want inside the House. They are expected to use “parliamentary language” during parliamentary debates. When they don’t, the rules empower the Speaker to remove such language from the records.

Rule 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha gives the Lok Sabha Speaker the power to order expunction of words that, in his/her opinion, are “defamatory or indecent or unparliamentary or undignified”. The Speaker can also order expunction of remarks, which are “defamatory or insinuatory in nature or levels allegation against a high dignitary or authority or organisation”.

Additionally, Rule 381 states that “the portion of the proceedings of the House so expunged shall be marked by asterisks and an explanatory footnote shall be inserted in the proceedings as follows: ‘Expunged as ordered by the Chair’.”

But what qualifies as unparliamentary language? Over the years, several words in English and other languages have been deemed ‘unparliamentary’ by presiding officers – Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman – and are kept out of Parliament records.

In fact, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has published a tome of ‘Unparliamentary Expressions’ that contains words that are considered rude or offensive. However, it also contains content that would appear to be fairly harmless and innocuous.

Today words like ‘jumlajeevi’, ‘Baal buddhi’, ‘COVID spreader’ and ‘Snoopgate’ and even commonly used words like ‘ashamed’, ‘abused’, ‘betrayed’, ‘corrupt’, ‘drama’, ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘incompetent’ were considered unparliamentary in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

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And there have been several remarks expunged over the years. For instance, even Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on BK Hariprasad, the UPA candidate for the post of deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha, in August 2018 were expunged from the records.

How is the decision to expunge remarks taken?

The head of the reporting section makes a report of the ‘unparliamentary language’ that he/she believes will hurt the decorum or dignity of the House and sends it to the Speaker or the Presiding Officer citing relevant rules and precedence with a recommendation to expunge them.

The Speaker or Chairman then has the power under Rule 380 to expunge the word or usage. Once the Speaker expunges the word or usage, it comes back to the reporting section which removes the word from the records and mentions in the proceedings as “expunged as ordered by the chair”.

The expunged portions cease to exist in the records of Parliament and cannot be reported by media houses, although they may have been heard during the live telecast of the proceedings. Interestingly, sometimes the presiding officer can ask for a replacement of the expunged word to be added in the records.

However, in the age of social media, implementing expunction orders has become challenging. Furthermore, live-streaming of parliamentary proceedings means that expunged remarks can be seen and heard by viewers before they are officially expunged, potentially causing damage or offence.

Why were parts of Rahul’s speech expunged?

Returning to Parliament after been disqualified owing to his conviction in the 2019 Modi surname defamation case, Rahul Gandhi held nothing back in his 37-minute long speech on the no-confidence motion.

He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of (expunged word) Mother India in violence-hit Manipur. “In Manipur, they (BJP) have harmed (expunged word) Hindustan. Their politics has harmed Hindustan in Manipur,” he alleged.

He added that the prime minister does not consider Manipur a part of India. “The prime minister cannot go to Manipur because he has harmed Hindustan there… You are not the protectors of Bharat Mata.”

“Aap… (expunged) ho, aap desh bhakt nahin ho … Aap desh premi nahin ho, aap … (expunged) ho, aapne desh ki … (expunged) Manipur mein ki hai (You are … you are not patriots, you do not love the country, you are … you have… the country in Manipur),” said Rahul, triggering an uproar in the BJP benches.

Despite protests from the BJP, Gandhi continued, “You are not the saviours of Bharat Mata. You are the… (expunged) of Bharat Mata… I am talking about the… (expunged) of my mother. I am talking with respect. You have… (expunged) my mother. One mother (pointing to Sonia Gandhi who was seated in the front row) of mine is sitting here, and you have… (expunged) the other in Manipur … every day, till you stop violence, you are… (expunged) my mother.”

“I went to Manipur some days ago. Your … (expunged) has not gone so far… I used the word Manipur… but the reality is there is no Manipur left. Manipur you have divided, broken Manipur in two parts,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi also went on to say that it is the Army that can bring peace to Manipur but the government is not deploying it.

In his combative speech, Rahul also accused the government of spreading communal hate everywhere. “You are sprinkling kerosene everywhere. You sprinkled kerosene in Manipur and then added fire to it. You are now trying the same thing in Haryana. You are attempting to burn the country everywhere. You are (expunged word) Bharat Mata throughout the country,” he said, referring to recent communal clashes in Gurugram and Nuh.

At one point of his speech, Rahul also accused the prime minister of listening to only two people – Amit Shah and Gautam Adani – just as Ravan listened only to Meghnad and Kumbhakaran. Showing an old poster of Modi and Adani together, he said, “Modi doesn’t listen to India’s voice but theirs (Adani group).”

The poster caused further infuriation amid the Treasury benches, with them pointing out that it was not allowed by the rules.

Notably, this isn’t the only time that parts of Rahul Gandhi’s speech have been expunged. Earlier in February too, portions of his speech in Lok Sabha were expunged. His speech at the time had linked PM Modi to businessman Gautam Adani. At that time, Rahul had responded by writing on the now rebranded social media site X, in Hindi, “Prime Minister, you cannot eliminate the voice of democracy. The people of India are asking you questions, give us answers.”

With inputs from agencies