Expunge IT minister’s remark on ‘similarly worded questions’, says Shiv Sena MP
Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has asked the House chairperson to expunge IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's remarks on net neutrality questions asked by multiple members of the opposition. Chaturvedi called the remarks a breach of privilege and asked for their removal. The chairperson and the secretary general of Rajya Sabha have assured her to look into the matter. Vaishnaw had pointed out the similarity in questions during a session, to which Chaturvedi and other opposition members responded that it is common for MPs to ask similar questions.
New Delhi: Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi has asked House chairperson Jagdeep Dhankar to expunge IT and communications minister Ashwini Vaishnaw’s remarks on how similarly worded questions related to net neutrality were asked by multiple members of the Opposition, including the Shiv Sena (UBT) lawmaker.
“I have written a letter to the [Rajya Sabha] chairperson, who is the protector of my privilege, saying that it is a breach of privilege as the minister made those remarks in a chamber where I was not present to defend myself. I have asked him to expunge these remarks. These remarks were made in bad faith with no knowledge of how the Question Hour works. They were uncalled for and unbecoming and unbefitting of his position,” Chaturvedi said.
She said that the chairperson and the secretary general of Rajya Sabha has assured her to look into the matter.
On December 13, in response to a question by Bahujan Samaj Party MP Ritesh Pandey on net neutrality, Vaishnaw said, “There is a matter of great concern. The exact same question, in the exact same words, was asked by Congress’s Mr Muralidharan and Mr Vincent H. Pala. The exact same question was asked by Mr Digvijay Singh of Congress and Mrs Priyanka Chaturvedi of Shiv Sena in the Rajya Sabha. And I want to bring it to your notice that today, the honourable members are asking the exact same question, with the same wording in this house.”
Pandey responded, saying, “The questions department clearly says that if three to four members ask the same type of question, it has greater chances of being selected. That’s why members share questions with each other and then ask them. It has been noticed that when two people ask the same question, the question is selected [balloted]. This is happening as per the rules.”
“Once a question has been listed, it means that it has passed the requirements of admissibility and has the speaker or the chair’s approval. The minister then can’t take a stand against that question,” Ravindra Garimella, former joint secretary (legislation) in the Lok Sabha Secretariat, explained.
But the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha say that a question “shall not repeat in substance questions already answered or to which an answer has been refused”.
“It is for the secretariat to check for repetition. In case of a repetition, the secretariat should have rejected it on technical grounds,” Garimella said.
In this case, however, the question was not asked in this session previously. Pala, Muraleedharan and others had asked this question in August 2023 (during the monsoon session) and December 2022 (winter session). The language was not identical even though the substance of it was.
HT couldn’t find the questions on net neutrality that Chauturvedi had asked. Singh asked three questions related to net neutrality between May and July 2015 when the net neutrality issue was being discussed extensively.
“Realistically, questions can be asked again. It is not possible for MPs to keep track of what questions have been asked and answered,” he said.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who has been the minister of state for IT since July 2021, asked six questions related to net neutrality between May 2015 and July 2016. He first raised this issue through a question in February 2011.
To be sure, between 2015 and 2016, the issue of net neutrality was intensely discussed and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) eventually formulated rules cementing the principle in 2018.
In July 2023, TRAI released a consultation paper where it asked if there should be a collaborative framework between online communication services like WhatsApp and telcos like Airtel. This has been seen as an attempt to reopen the discussion around net neutrality.
On December 13, Vaishnaw, in response to Pandey’s question, said, “This question was decided long ago. ... This [net neutrality] is a well-established principle. Regular technical audits are conducted. In these technical audits, no evidence of discrimination was found.” In a written statement, he said that 335 technical audits have been conducted.
HT reached out to Vaishnaw’s office for comment but did not get one immediately.
