Following outrage over a Lok Sabha secretariat booklet that termed the use of certain words as ‘unparliamentary’, Speaker Om Birla issued a clarification saying that members are free to express themselves and that no words have been banned in Parliament.
“It has been a routine practice since 1959. There are no forbidden words. Members have the right to express themselves. No one can take that right away from members, but [expression of views] must adhere to Parliamentary decorum,” said the Speaker.
“Previously, a book of such unparliamentary words was released. We put it on the internet to avoid wasting paper. We have not banned any words, but we have published a list of those that have been removed,” he added.
He added that the objections voiced by some members of Parliament were taken into consideration when the decision to strike certain words was made.
“Both the party in power and the opposition have used words that have been removed in the Parliament. Nothing like selective expunging of words used by only the Opposition,” the Speaker remarked at a press conference.
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