Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee received a deluge of requests from the proletariat, middle class and dignitaries in India
NEW DELHI: The CPI(M) may not have bargained for it. A day after he was summarily dismissed by the red czars, Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee received a deluge of requests from the proletariat, middle class and dignitaries in India and abroad, lauding him for standing up to the Marxist honchos and urging him not to quit the post.
And the angst in the UPA side against the CPI(M)’s “scant respect” for a person in a constitutional post was summed up by RJD chief and railway minister Lalu Prasad, who after meeting the speaker, said, “Now, the only thing left for CPI(M) is to expel Jyoti Babu (Basu). They have lost their minds. He taught them ideology. The Left has thrown him out at a whim. Prakash Karat can never attain his stature.”
The Congress said “the CPI(M) act of expelling him is like the rage of an impotent”.
Unfazed Karat said it was the party’s prerogative whether to retain him after his refusal to quit the speaker’s post as directed or not.
“But he could appeal against the expulsion and the party could reconsider,” he said.
“The central committee decided that no member of the party should remain speaker of Lok Sabha after the withdrawal of support. We were asked to communicate this to him. He did not agree... we had no option (but to take action),” Karat told reporters in Hyderabad.
“To continue or not as speaker is his decision, but whether he will remain as our party member, that we will decide,” he said, even as a section of the CPI(M) expressed unhappiness at Somnath’s expulsion.
Water resources minister Saifuddin Soz said: “The withdrawal of support to us was a mistake made by the Left. Now, expelling him (Somnath) is another big mistake.”
“Support in pouring in from all over the world, US, Canada, UK to name a few and the whole of India. We are getting telegrams, SMSes and emails praising his conduct of the House and trust vote, asking him not to quit and expressing sorrow at his dismissal and decrying the CPI(M)’s action,” an employee in the speaker’s office said.
Sources in the office said from 9.45 am on Thursday scores of people, including the prime minister, external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and home minister Shivraj Patil, called on Somnath, requesting him to continue in office. Chatterjee’s 79th birthday is on Friday and he is expected to receive even more visitors.
Some of the ministers who interacted with Chatterjee hinted he may continue as speaker.
Throwing the Congress weight behind him, party spokesperson Manish Tiwari said: “He (Chatterjee) is no longer a member of CPI(M). Constitutionally, he need not resign, we have absolute faith in him.”
Congress president Sonia Gandhi as well supported Somnath. Meanwhile, constitutional and legal experts said the CPI(M)’s decision won’t affect the speaker as the post provided him constitutional immunity.
Former secretary general of Lok Sabha Subhash Kashyap said “the expulsion does not affect his position as speaker unless he himself chooses to resign.”
Former law minister and senior advocate Shanti Bhushan said, “The Lok Sabha and only the Lok Sabha can get rid of the speaker.”
The constitution shields the speaker against disqualification from parliament even if he resigns from his party, they said.
k_benedict@dnaindia.net
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