The opposition has very kindly sponsored a no confidence motion against the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. It is almost certain to fail. Arithmetic is a stubborn creature.
If you have the numbers, you win.
But numbers do not erase meaning.
A no confidence motion is not a casual complaint like grumbling about the canteen samosa.
It is a statement.
It says that the referee is suspected of playing for one team. And that is serious, because the Speaker’s chair is not a party sofa. It is supposed to be a judicial bench with better upholstery.
Traditionally, Speakers have come from the ruling side. That is fine. Everyone has a political past. Even school prefects once belonged to gangs in kindergarten. But the moment you sit in that tall chair with the microphone and the bell, you are expected to undergo instant spiritual transformation. From party warrior to constitutional monk.
Instead, what the country is witnessing today, looks less like a monk and more like a cricket umpire who begins applauding when only one team hits a boundary.
A Speaker must be firm, impartial and slightly boring. That is the job description. The moment he begins smirking at opposition members or allowing one side endless monologues while the other side gets muted like a misbehaving child on a video call, something is wrong.
Imagine a traffic policeman stationed at a busy junction. He whistles energetically at cyclists and scooter riders. He fines them for being one inch over the zebra crossing. Meanwhile, the large SUV with tinted windows glides past majestically, possibly even waving at him.
If you ask him why, he adjusts his cap and says, “He pays me my hafta.”
A lawmaker who cannot uphold fairness inside Parliament resembles that traffic cop. It may not be the hafta of money, but certainly of power.
The Speaker’s job is not to protect the government from discomfort. It is to protect the House from disorder and bias.
Today, some of the finest speeches in Parliament are coming from the opposition benches. Sharp, articulate, sometimes uncomfortable.
But democracy was never meant to be comfortable. It is meant to be accountable.
When members bring a no confidence motion against the Speaker, they are raising a mirror.
Showing in actuality, a powerless man.
The motion may fail on paper. The ruling party will likely win the division. But the real question is whether the Speaker can look at that chair tomorrow and ask himself, ‘am I a judge or just a well-dressed traffic cop with selective eyesight?’
And sir, ‘History remembers fairness, and ruthlessly ridicules the biased!’
That smirk you give, could well be what our people will one day, give back to you..!
The Author conducts an online, eight session Writers and Speakers Course. If you’d like to join, do send a thumbs-up to WhatsApp number 9892572883 or send a message to bobsbanter@gmail.com
