 "Om Birla has become the Lok Sabha Speaker for a second consecutive term. File Photo/PTI")
Om Birla, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Rajasthan, is the new Lok Sabha Speaker. He defeated Congress’ Kodikunnil Suresh, who was the opposition INDIA bloc’s candidate, in the rare Speaker election conducted by a voice vote on Wednesday (June 26).
With this, Birla has joined the league of a select few MPs who served as the Lok Sabha Speaker for more than one term. He first took charge of the coveted post in 2019, being unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha. Now, he has become the first presiding officer to be re-elected in two decades.
Heaping praises on Birla after his re-election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Lok Sabha Speaker would play a major role in ensuring that the lower house meets people’s expectations. “It is a matter of honour that you have been elected to this chair for the second time. I congratulate you on behalf of the entire House and look forward to your guidance for the next five years. Your sweet smile keeps the entire House happy,” he said.
But who is Om Birla? How has he risen through the ranks in recent years? Let’s take a look.
Who is Om Birla?
Before his move to national politics, Birla was a three-time MLA from Rajasthan.
He was first elected to the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly in 2003 when he won from the Kota South seat. He won again in 2008 and 2013.
Born in 1962, Birla hails from a third-generation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) family, reported India Today. He has been fostering political interests since his student days.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsBirla became the president of the students’ union at Gumanpura’s Government Senior Secondary School in Kota in 1979, as per an Indian Express report.
Birla served as the Kota district president of the BJP’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), from 1987 to 1991. He was the Rajasthan president of BJYM from 1993 to 1997, the newspaper report added.
Birla was appointed national vice president of the BJYM when JP Nadda was the chief of the saffron party’s youth wing.
He grew close to Venkaiah Naidu during the latter’s term as BJP’s national president from 2002-04.
Speaking to ThePrint, a Rajasthan BJP leader said on condition of anonymity, “Birla was close to Venkaiah Naidu who was then president of the BJP and Ramdas Agarwal who was party treasurer. They backed Birla and he maintained his relationship with the national leadership in Delhi by hosting any senior party leader who visited Kota or other parts of Rajasthan.”
The 61-year-old also never shied away from participating in protests. In 1978, when Birla was a member of the RSS’s student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), he came before the car of Bhanwar Lal Sharma — a minister in the then Janata Party government of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat – while protesting against unemployment in Kota.
He was also a part of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, noted Indian Express. Married to Amita Birla, a doctor, the BJP leader has two daughters.
The rise and rise of Om Birla
Birla’s political rise began after Vasundhara Raje became the Rajasthan BJP president.
In 2003, she fielded Birla from the Kota Assembly constituency against Congress’ Shanti Dhariwal. As he trounced Dhariwal, Birla earned the title of a giant killer.
Raje, who became the Rajasthan chief minister that year, appointed Birla as parliamentary secretary. However, the duo had a falling out, reported ThePrint.
Birla’s social work gained him points with the BJP’s Delhi leadership. He provided free food, clothes, and footwear to the needy in his constituency, along with running a medicine bank and a stopgap school for illiterate women.
Birla’s social work “allowed him to make friends across party lines. Though he was not given a leadership role during Bhairon Singh Shekhawat or Raje’s time in office, Modi-Shah [PM Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah] picked him for a prominent role, and he emerged as a prominent face from Rajasthan in Delhi,” a BJP MP from the desert state told ThePrint.
According to this lawmaker, Birla’s Gujarat link and his experience helped him forge a “chemistry” with Modi and Shah.
Birla was the chairman of the Rajasthan State Cooperative Consumer Federation and vice chairman of the National Cooperative Consumer Federation. He was also the director of Coal India.
In 2001, he was involved in relief work in Gujarat’s Bhuj after it was hit by a devastating earthquake.
Birla’s past acquaintance with PM Modi worked in his favour and got him a ticket to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, party sources told ThePrint. He has been representing the Kota Lok Sabha seat since then.
Why BJP picked Birla again
When Birla was made the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha in 2019, the BJP had won the general elections with a brute majority, securing 303 seats on its own.
However, the parliamentary scenario is different this time. The BJP has returned to power for a third term but is running a coalition government after failing to reach the majority mark of 272 seats.
By renominating Birla, the BJP sent a message of continuity. A senior party leader told ThePrint, “There is another message — ‘Brand Modi’ is not diluted and his style of governance won’t change under pressure from the opposition”.
Speaking to Moneycontrol, BJP spokesperson Tuhin A Sinha credited Birla’s “exemplary performance” in his first tenure as Lok Sabha Speaker for his selection by the government for the coveted post.
Birla’s previous tenure as LS Speaker
According to Birla’s official website, he introduced several new measures in the lower house, including going paperless, during his tenure as the presiding officer of the 17th Lok Sabha.
It also mentions Birla’s role in endorsing the use of Hindi during parliamentary proceedings.
While congratulating Birla after the election, PM Modi remembered his previous tenure as the Speaker. “The works that didn’t happen during 70 years of independence, were made possible by this House under your chairmanship. Key bills were passed under your leadership. Several milestones come in the long journey of democracy. A few occasions are such when we receive the opportunity to establish milestones. I am very confident that the country will be proud of the achievements of the 17th Lok Sabha,” he said, as per NDTV.
During his last tenure, Birla had come under fire as he was accused of toeing the government line and cracking down on the opposition leaders.
Birla’s tenure saw the highest number of suspensions of MPs in a single session ever, with 100 Lok Sabha MPs being suspended between December 14 and 21 last year. Another 46 MPs were suspended from the Rajya Sabha.
With Birla again at the helm and a stronger opposition ready to take on the government, only time will tell if there will be fireworks or smooth sailing in the Lok Sabha.
With inputs from agencies