A humorous yet pointed moment occurred during special session of Parliament when the MP joked at the expense of the leader of the opposition after the leader supposedly asked whether one of his peers had lost functionality on his microphone.
This incident occurred while the House was debating the government’s female empowerment bill, which seeks to grant women 33% of the total representation available in Parliament; this issue has previously caused considerable friction between government MPs and those representing an opposition party on two separate occasions.
“Aapka hi mic band hota hai, inka nahi”
Gandhi questions if Hindi is being taught at Venugopal’s speech
The exchange between Venugopal and the speaker commenced after Congress MP KC Venugopal questioned government intent regarding its proposed women’s empowerment bill (the bill has not yet been implemented for the upcoming elections). After his question, Amit Shah stood up and interrupted Venugopal, engaging in an argument related to protocols within Parliament.
While Om Birla explained the protocols to Venugopal, members of the opposition were yelling at Venugopal that his microphone had been shut off. As Rahul Gandhi pointed to Venugopal’s microphone, he made a statement saying that “it isn’t working (it is not working).”
A background check on prior ‘muted’ complaints
In 2023, Leader of the Congress Rahul Gandhi made headlines during his trip to the United Kingdom when he stated that his party’s voice had been suppressed in Parliament due to the government turning off his microphone during key debates. Since then, the Congress has continually brought up the issue of muting in 2024, leading to many disruptions inside Parliament. The speaker’s quip in reference to muting served to minimize the possibility of systematic muting but still recognized the continued tensions.
Rising tensions related to delimitation and women’s reservation
Despite the speaker’s comments, inside the House on this day, tensions were high. The government introduced three important pieces of legislation:
- The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026
- The Delimitation Bill, 2026
- The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026
The introduction of these bills provoked an intense exchange of words between the ministers of parliamentary affairs and home affairs, Kiren Rijiju and Amit Shah, and the leaders of the opposition parties, including Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party).
