‘No Mechanism To Gag...’: Speaker’s Rejoinder After Rahul Alleges ‘Mic Muted’

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha session on Friday commenced with a tumultuous start, prompting its adjournment until Monday as the opposition voiced its protest in the House regarding the NEET paper leak issue, urging for an immediate discussion on the matter. However, the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, claimed his microphone was turned off while he called for a 'respectful' debate on the issue to support the students. 

The Congress shared a viral video depicting an exchange between the Congress MP and the Speaker. Rahul Gandhi said his microphone was turned off and asked the speaker to turn it back on. The speaker quickly responded with a sharp reply. 

Speaker Om Birla told him to follow the rules of the House and wait to discuss them after the Motion of Thanks to the President's speech. 

Meanwhile, Gandhi continued to insist and said, "We wanted to give a joint message to the students of India, on behalf of the opposition as well as the government, that we consider this an important issue. So, we thought that to respect students, we should have a NEET discussion today, a dedicated discussion," reported news agency IANS. 

In response to LoP’s allegations, Birla said that he does not possess a microphone switch. 

"I don't have any buttons to switch off the microphone. There was a similar set-up earlier. There is no mechanism to gag the microphone," the speaker added. 

The Congress shared the video and captioned the post, “Raised the issue of NEET—switched off the mic.” 

In the footage, Gandhi is seen addressing the house when suddenly his microphone was muted; later, the same happened to senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge. 

NEET का मुद्दा उठाया - माइक बंद कर दिया  pic.twitter.com/meEcoGa5sZ — Congress (@INCIndia) June 28, 2024

The Central Bureau of Investigation initiated a criminal case on June 23 regarding the NEET (UG) and UGC-NET exams, citing alleged misconduct by the National Testing Agency during the exams.

The controversy arose when 67 candidates received perfect scores of 720 out of 720, sparking outrage in academic communities. The issue quickly became political after the Ministry of Education initially dismissed allegations of paper leaks. Later, they formed a high-level committee to investigate the irregularities and propose reforms for the examination system.

(Based on inputs from IANS)