New Delhi:
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has written to Congress MP Shashi Tharoor to demand that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology refrain from discussing both suspension of 4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir and others issues of “national importance”.
Citing a letter by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, in which heads of House Parliamentary Committees were reminded that matters relating to cases pending in courts should not be discussed, Mr Dubey said the September 1 sitting should be “immediately revoked”.
“Since this issue is pending before the Supreme Court of India, any further deliberations on this would… be a violation of relevant rules/directions as well as disregarding recently issued advisory of the Speaker,” Mr Dubey wrote in his letter.
“Therefore, (I) appeal to your good-self that the sitting of the committee… convened for the aforementioned purpose, may be immediately revoked,” the BJP MP said.
Mr Dubey, who last week wrote to the Lok Sabha speaker demanding Mr Tharoor be removed from his post, also requested the MP from Kerala to not consider issues of “national importance” and declared himself worried that affairs of the committee were “being decided in front of media and camera glare/bite”.
“…gives an impression that the platform of the Committee on Information Technology is being used for gaining political mileage and raising baseless controversies, one after the other,” Mr Dubey said today.
Mr Dubey and Mr Tharoor traded breach of privilege motions last week, after Mr Tharoor indicated the Standing Committee would like to hear from Facebook on allegations it had deliberately ignored disruptive content from members of the ruling BJP despite the issue being “flagged internally”.
To that indication Mr Dubey said a parliamentary panel “should not be made a political platform by members to satisfy the ego of their respective party leaders”.
Mr Tharoor’s decision to hear from Facebook was, however, backed by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, who is also a member of the committee. She had said: “Amazing how BJP jumps up and down at anything to do with FB’s interests!”.
The Congress and the BJP have been locked in a fierce battle on this issue, with the BJP being accused of manipulating social media and the Congress reminded about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Facebook representatives have been summoned on September 2. Facebook has said, in reaction to the row, that it enforces policies on hate speech “without regard to political position or party affiliation”.
In his letter to Speaker Om Birla on Shashi Tharoor summoning Facebook, Mr Dubey wrote: “Mr Tharoor’s tenure has been controversial… Speaking in Spenserian English in foreign accent does not give one freedom to an individual to disregard parliamentary institutions”.
Mr Dubey, who is a member of the Standing Committee, also listed past incidents where, according to him, Mr Tharoor created controversies. Another BJP MP, Rajyavardhan Rathore, chipped in and accused Mr Tharoor of “flouting rules”
Meanwhile, the Standing Committee’s scheduled discussion on suspension of high-speed internet services follows restoration of high-speed mobile internet in two districts (one each in Jammu and Kashmir), on a trial basis, earlier this month.
This was after the Supreme Court asked the J&K administration to consider restoring 4G services in certain areas.
High-speed mobile internet services have been suspended in Jammu and Kashmir for over a year – they were stopped as part of security measures to quell backlash following the centre’s decision to withdraw special privileges under Article 370.
With input from PTI
