'Madam Speaker' At Mock Parliament: Meira Kumar's Polite Sternness Intact

New Delhi: Complete with her measured intonation for each syllable, and a strictness delivered politely, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar reprised her role as the "chair of the house" as she sat at the head of the proceedings at the Congress-led INDIA bloc's mock parliament session that "impeached" Gyanesh Kumar as Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi on Saturday.On the lawns of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's official residence, the setting resembled a joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, as was usually held in the Central Hall of the old Parliament building.Meira Kumar, 81, was LS Speaker between 2009 and 2014 during the second stint of the Congress-led UPA government with Manmohan Singh as prime minister before Narendra Modi rose to power at the Centre.Her trademarks, "jaldi khatam kijiye" (conclude within time) and repeated "dhanyawaad" (thank you) as a nudge, were back on Saturday.Meira Kumar looks on as Mallikarjun Kharge speaks during the mock parliament sitting. Photo: AICCAn Awkward StartHer role as mock presiding officer began rather awkwardly, though, as the mics were not on when she rose and started speaking -- a charge often levied by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi at the current speaker, Om Birla.Seventeen years ago, the day she was elected Speaker and became the first woman and only the second Dalit to hold the post, the start had its own awkwardness. CPI(M)'s Basudeb Acharia had to be corrected by other members several times when he addressed the chair as "speaker sir" before he switched to "madam speaker".On Saturday, the mic trouble was fixed quickly, and she opened by declaring the agenda of the "very important gathering", speaking in her signature, halting Hindi. Accusing the CEC and the BJP of "collusion to steal elections", the veteran Congress leader said, "The voter is at the heart of the election process, which is the essence of democracy. The voter is the soul of democracy. If even one person is denied the right to vote, the soul of our democracy is wounded."She specifically mentioned "Gen Z and now Gen Alpha", saying they were "looking at us with hope", and then switched briefly to English. "But how are we going to promise them a golden tomorrow if our voting system is faulty?" wondered Kumar, a five-time former MP whose father Jagjivan Ram was the deputy PM.The former union minister described Indian democracy as a banyan tree, "and an axe is being used against that tree that gave us all shade".Strong Words, Then A SmileIn a shift of tone, she used an uncharacteristically strong idiom too: "We have to do something about that, no matter what. Humein kuch karna hai, sar par kafan baandh ke karna hai (We are determined, with a shroud tied to our head, ready to die for it)."After a six-minute address, she invited Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, to table the motion against Gyanesh Kumar, who took about 30 minutes and laid out six "charges" against the CEC, demanding that he be "tried for treason".A smile escaped Meira Kumar's lips as Kharge formally thanked her "for giving me enough time", a la the decorum of the House. She proceeded to call upon a Samajwadi Party leader to speak before moving on to others, including some people whose names have been struck off the voter rolls as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) at the nub of the recent upheaval in Indian politics.The "Dhanyawad" NudgeMeira Kumar was in her element when Arvind Sawant of the Shiv Sena (UBT) finished his speech, in which he accused the BJP of breaking parties and stealing MLAs, one of the allegations also made by Kharge."Aapka dhanyawad, bahut dhanyawad, isliye bhi ki aapne samay pe samapt kiya," Kumar told Sawant, thanking him "especially because you finished within the allotted time".She pulled out the "baith jaaiye" (sit down, please) when Ritu Barala, a leader of the Congress student wing NSUI who had recently accused police of assaulting her during recent protests, spoke for longer than planned."Aap baith jaaiye, kripa kar ke baith jaaiye (You sit down, please)," Kumar told her, calmly raising her left hand for effect.Barala insisted on going on with a couplet, but Kumar was strict: "Please, please, please, aap baith jaaiye." Barala did not relent immediately, and sat down only after completing her speech, even as Kumar kept saying "please" and "sit down" over her.Meira Kumar, daughter of a former deputy PM, has served as a minister too in the past. Photo: AICC/ANI2 Lines For Mahua Moitra, Almost A 2012 ReduxThe next speaker, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, was passionately delivering her bit and overran the clock, at which point Meira Kumar said, "Please, conclude. Conclude, please," at least four times.Moitra spoke over her and received a stern couple of lines when she finally stopped."You have exceeded your time. You have stepped into the other speakers' time," Kumar told her with a couple of thank-yous.Back in 2012, a similar situation had led to a bit of a tiff between Kumar as speaker and Sharad Yadav, who had angrily retorted that he would sit down if she wanted. She had got up and delivered a series of punchlines then: "It's about the authority of the chair... members should go by the rules and not get angry with the speaker. When Lalu Prasad Yadav remarked that she was very angry, she replied with a smile, "I am not angry, Laluji."With Lalu Yadav, she had had another such moment back in 2010, when he told her, "This is not fashionable that we go near your seat and shout. But when somebody doesn't listen, we need to go closer to the person to make her listen to us. Don't take it otherwise, madam!"Meira Kumar with Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi. Photo: NDTV FileBack When She Did Not Approve Of Mock SessionThere was a mock session back in 2010, too, that Meira Kumar had not quite approved of.In August that year, around 70 Opposition MPs staged a parody parliament inside the Lok Sabha during an adjournment, featuring BJP's Gopinath Munde acting as the "speaker," Lalu Prasad Yadav as "prime minister", after repeated disagreements over a hike in MPs' salaries. Senior leaders across parties later expressed disagreement with the parody at a meeting she called to restore decorum.When her tenure ended, Mulayam Singh Yadav said she ran the House gracefully and that her trademark smile was back on her face that day. She later ran for President as the Congress-led Opposition group's candidate but lost to Ramnath Kovind.At Saturday's mock session where Gyanesh Kumar was "impeached", she said, "I am surprised... I served as Speaker for five years, but I have never witnessed a gathering where there wasn't even a single voice of dissent." The trademark smile made another appearance.