NDA’s Deputy Speaker under UPA govt, Charanjit Singh Atwal recalls tough times from Opposition

The last time that a member of the Opposition front was the Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker was under the two Manmohan Singh-led UPA governments between 2004 and 2014. While Charanjit Singh Atwal, a leader of then BJP ally Akali Dal, was the Deputy Speaker in 2004-09, the BJP’s Kariya Munda held the post from 2009 to 2014.

Under the first Narendra Modi government, 2014-2019, M Thambidurai of the AIADMK, a party seen as friendly towards the BJP, was the Deputy Speaker. Throughout Modi’s second term, Parliament did not have a Deputy Speaker.

Now 87 andin the BJP since last year, Atwal says that what he remembers of his tenure, 20 years ago, was facing a tough time from the Opposition – despite being an MP from the Opposition front.

Atwal recalls that the Akali Dal had eight MPs in the Lok Sabha in 2004, while the BJP had 138. “Former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal (the late Akali Dal chief) asked former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and ex-home minister Lal Krishna Advani to push my name as Deputy Speaker. Badal Senior told BJP leaders that it would send a good message as the Congress had a Sikh, Manmohan Singh, as the PM.”

After the NDA put forward his name, Atwal toldThe Indian Express, “The Congress also supported me. I was elected Deputy Speaker unanimously.”

One of the biggest crises during his tenure came in August 2005. Mamata Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress chief who was then an MP and part of the anti-Congress opposition, hurled a sheaf of papers at the Speaker – when Atwal was in the Chair – when she was not allowed to raise the subject of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

Says Atwal: “Then Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had denied Mamata Banerjee the opportunity to raise some questions. She tried to raise the same