'He just ran away': Rahul Gandhi's 'not allowed to speak' claim gets Om Birla's 'maintain conduct' reply

NEW DELHI: Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Wednesday alleged that Speaker Om Birla did not allow him to speak in the House despite repeated requests.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Gandhi said he wanted to address issues related to the Maha Kumbh Mela and unemployment but was "stopped" from doing so.
"Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) ji spoke on Maha Kumbh, and I also wanted to speak about it. I wanted to say the Kumbh Mela was very good. I also wanted to raise the issue of unemployment, but I wasn’t allowed. I don’t know the Speaker’s thinking, but the truth is, we are not allowed to speak," Gandhi said.
He also claimed that Speaker Om Birla made an "unsubstantiated remark" about him before abruptly adjourning the House.
'I requested to speak, but he ran away': Rahul Gandhi
Expressing his frustration, Gandhi accused the Speaker of avoiding his requests.
"I don’t know what is going on. I requested him to let me speak, but he just ran away. This is no way to run the House," Gandhi said. "It is a convention that the Leader of Opposition is given time to speak. Whenever I stand up, I am stopped. I did nothing wrong—I was sitting quietly. Here, there is no place for democracy. There is only place for the government," he added.
In response to the alleged denial, about 70 Congress MPs, including Deputy Leader of Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi and party general secretary KC Venugopal, met the Speaker to protest against the decision, party sources said.
Om Birla responds: 'Follow the rules of the House'
Speaker Om Birla, addressing the matter, reminded Gandhi to maintain parliamentary decorum.
"It is expected of you to uphold the high standards of the House. There have been several instances where MPs’ conduct has fallen short of these standards. I expect the Leader of Opposition to follow the rules," Birla said.
BJP’s Amit Malviya took a dig at Gandhi, saying, "It is disgraceful that the Lok Sabha Speaker has to remind the Leader of Opposition about basic parliamentary decorum. The fact that Congress has imposed this puerile man upon us is truly unfortunate."
'Felt like a school assembly': Karti Chidambaram
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram described the Speaker’s remarks as unusual, likening the experience to a school assembly.
"I don’t know what the provocation was or why the Speaker had to say this. It reminded me of my headmaster in school—I felt like I was back in my school assembly," Chidambaram said.