“Crossing the Lakshman Rekha" --- Ethical Boundary is something Rahul Gandhi never bothered ::: Speaker Meira Kumar gave him unnecessary indulgence

The then Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar gave him unnecessary indulgence .... hence 'Ethical Boundary' or Lakshman Rekha is something Rahul Gandhi never bothered. 

Meira Kumar 

The suspension of eight opposition members was revoked in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (March 17) after a war of words between the opposition and treasury benches on maintaining decorum in the House.

“The crossing of the Lakshman Rekha" or the Ethical Boundary too figured and rightly so.

Opposition members said that they would maintain the decorum, and the members of the opposition should be given equal time as the Treasury benches.

Eight opposition MPs including Congress’s Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, Dean Kuriakose, Prashant Padole, C. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Manickam Tagore and CPI(M) MP S. Venkatesan were suspended on February 3 for the entire session, following an uproar after leader of opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi was allegedly 'stopped' from speaking during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.  

During the debate, Rahul Gandhi even told the Speaker -- "I am the leader of the Opposition, I don't need your permission". 

Such remarks only show how ill-informed Rahul has remained over the years on parliamentary system. A former Speaker in one of the states in north east -- did not want to drag himself into these rows but simply said - 

"I wish Rahul was more educated about this because he spoke like a college boy and not an elected member of the House -- who has been in Parliament since 2004".

In 2011, no less than the then Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj had criticised the manner Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was allowed to make a public speech to the nation during zero hour on the Lokpal bill during the height of the anti-corruption agitation led by Anna Hazare. 

"Was Rahul Gandhi's speech a Zero Hour intervention or an address to the nation," Late Sushma Swaraj had asked in the House on August 27, 2011. 

"Zero Hour mein Rashtra ke naam sandesh nahi dia jata", she had complained.

"Zero hour is meant to raise an issue. 

Why were norms relaxed for Rahul? Zero hour allows three minutes to raise an issue, Rahul took 15 minutes," Sushma pointed out evoking protest from the Congress members but the then Speaker Meira Kumar chose not to react.

The 'punctured' : Hero of Zero Hour in 2011

On March 17, 2026 (Tuesday)  Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav said:

“I support the resolution to revoke the suspension of eight MPs moved by K. Suresh. The ruling side people are dictating terms here. All members are responsible for maintaining the dignity of the House. But on behalf of the party and my leader, Akhilesh Yadav, we will never cross the dignity of the House".  

In fact there was once a scuffle between Samajwadi Party MPs and Sonia Gandhi. The coincidence was Meira Kumar was the Speaker in the same House; and nothing much happened after that.  

Under Rule 377of the Lok Sabha, matters of public importance are allowed to be taken up during the Zero Hour. Notably, in 2008, the then Speaker Somnath Chatterjee once described Zero Hour as the 'torture hour for the Chair'.

"You cannot threaten the Chair," he once told a Samajwadi Party member.  

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'Zero-hour' is considered a significant parliamentary time especially in the Lok Sabha which came into existence when Janata Dal leader from Odisha Rabi Ray was the Speaker in 1989. The idea is to enable elected member raise "urgent issues" that require the attention of the House and the government.

-- While dictionary defines ‘Zero Hour’ as the “the critical moment”, in parliamentary parlance, it is referred as the time gap between the end of Question Hour and the beginning of the regular business. 

But in Lok Sabha, the chair allows laying of papers at around 12 noon after the stipulated Question Hour and then gives time to members for raising issues of public importance.

Rabi Ray 

First Lok Sabha Speaker under Narendra Modi; Sumitra Mahajan on November 30, 2016 had actually made an unprecedented offer to the members urging them to end the deadlock and commence the debate on the high-voltage demonetisation scheme. 

"Shunya se hum brahmand tak ja saktey haen (We can start from zero and reach up to the entire universe)," she had said referring to the Zero Hour proceedings - a time which is under her discretionary disposal.  

Biju Janata Dal member B Mahtab (incidentally now a BJP lawmaker) had said the offer for debate on demonetisation "during zero hour" by the Speaker only reflected the "anguish" of the Chair that both sides were not agreeing for a rule under which the discussion could be held. 

All members of the House should take the matter seriously, he said. 

"Every Member is aware of the anguish that you have expressed from the Chair. It is a caution to every Member who is present in this House," Mahtab had said.   

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