Facebook Row: Remove Shashi Tharoor From Parliamentary Standing Committee, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey Urges Om Birla

New Delhi, August 20: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Nishikant Dubey has written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, seeking removal of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology which he heads. In his letter, Nishikant Dubey urged Om Birla to invoke Rule 283 with provisions in rules of procedures for removing Shashi Tharoor from the parliamentary panel. Facebook-BJP Row: Privilege Motion Moved Against Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor by Nishikant Dubey.

"Speaking in Spenserian English in foreign accent does not give freedom to an individual to disregard our glorious parliamentary institutions/organs to meet his own political ambitions," Dubey stated in a direct attack on Tharoor. The feud between Tharoor and Dubey started after The Wall Street Journal claimed that Facebook’s senior India policy executive Ankhi Das intervened in internal content review processes to stop action against BJP’s Telangana MLA T Raja Singh when he made offensive remarks against Muslims. Facebook, WhatsApp Controlled by BJP And RSS to Spread Fake News, Influence Voters in India: Rahul Gandhi on WSJ Report.

Drop Shashi Tharoor From Parliamentary Standing Committee: Nishikant Dubey

When Congress leader Rahul Gandhi re-tweeted the report on Sunday, Shashi Tharoor tweeted: "The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology would certainly wish to hear from @Facebook about these reports and what they propose to do about hate-speech in India." Dubey, who is a member of the panel, opposed Tharoor's move.

"The Chairman of the Standing Committee does not have the authority to do anything without discussion of the agenda with its members. Shashi Tharoor, stop Rahul Gandhi's agenda without authorisation by the Committee and Speaker," Dubey tweeted. The BJP lawmaker went on say that a parliamentary panel "should not be made a political platform by members to satisfy the ego of their respective party leaders".

Taking strong objection to Dubey's remarks, Tharoor moved a notice for breach of privilege moved against Dubey, saying the BJP MP made "disparaging remarks" on social media over his decision to summon a panel meeting to discuss alleged "misconduct" of Facebook. In retaliation, Dubey moved a notice for breach of privilege against Rahul Gandhi and Tharoor. He alleged that Tharoor had "surpassed all limits of decency, ethics and basic tenets of parliamentary procedure" and Rahul had "spread fake news and hatred".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 20, 2020 04:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).