Some parties defend leaders who breach House rules: PM Modi
Modi said that earlier a lawmaker facing graft charges would no find any support, but now they are “publicly glorified”.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday stressed the need to maintain the dignity of the House as he targeted “some political parties” for allegedly defending the lawmakers who break the rules of Parliament and state legislatures.

Addressing the 84th All India Presiding Officers’ Conference (AIPOC), the PM said that earlier senior members of the House would take the initiative to ensure that decorum is maintained, but it was no longer followed.
“There was a time when, if any member in the House broke the rules and action was taken against that member, senior members of the House would talk to them so that in the future they did not repeat the mistake. But these days, some political parties stand in support of such members and defend their mistakes. The situation is not good for Parliament or the state legislature,” he said.
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The PM’s comments come against the backdrop of an acrimonious Winter Session that witnessed a record suspension of 146 Opposition lawmakers after a glaring lapse in the security of the heavily fortified building, with two intruders jumping into the Lok Sabha with smoke canisters. The Opposition has claimed the suspensions were prompted by their continuing demand for answers from the government on the security lapse -- and specifically a statement from home minister Amit Shah -- but the government has denied the charge and maintained that the suspensions were for disorderly conduct.
Modi said that earlier a lawmaker facing graft charges would no find any support, but now they are “publicly glorified”.
“Earlier, if any member of the House was accused of corruption, everyone used to distance themselves from him. But today we see even corrupt people, convicted by the court, being publicly glorified... This is an insult to the executive. This is an insult to the judiciary. This is also an insult to the great Constitution of India,” he said.
During his address, Modi also called for increasing the participation of women and youngsters in policy-making.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who inaugurated the conference, “there is enough space to give voice to dissent in the democratic system, therefore, disruption should not be used as a tool of protest and dissent”.
