BJP wants ‘foreign accented’ Tharoor sacked as head of Parliament’s IT panel

Tharoor calls Facebook to depose before panel on September 2

New Delhi, Aug. 20: Stepping up his attack against Shashi Tharoor, chairman of the parliamentary panel on information technology, BJP MP and a member of the panel Nishikant Dubey on Thursday wrote a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker requesting him to remove the Congress leader from the post.

Citing Lok Sabha rules, Mr Dubey in his letter to Speaker Om Birla alleged that “speaking in ‘Spenserian’ English with a foreign accent does not give freedom to an individual to not only disregard our glorious parliamentary institutions/organs to meet his own political ambitions but also to abuse our Constitution,” and requested that any other

Speaking in ‘Spenserian’ English does not give freedom to an individual to not only disregard our glorious parliamentary institutions to meet his own political ambitions but also to abuse our Constitution... I urge the Speaker to persuade Dr Tharoor to proceed on leave.

— Nishikant Dubey

member be appointed as the chairman of the committee in Mr Tharoor’s place.

“Under rule 258(3) of the Rules of the Procedure and Conduct in Lok Sabha, I urge the Speaker to persuade Dr Tharoor to proceed on leave,” Mr Dubey tweeted.

Unfazed, Mr Tharoor on

Wednesday summoned Facebook to appear before the panel on September 2 to discuss the issue of alleged misuse of social media platform in the wake of claims that the US firm did not apply hate speech rules to certain BJP politicians.

Facebook has been asked to depose before the panel on “safeguarding citizens’ rights and prevention of misuse of social/online news media platforms including special emphasis on women security in the digital space”.

Besides representatives of Facebook, the representatives of the ministry of electronics and information technology have also been asked to remain present during the deposition.

On Wednesday, Mr Dubey and Mr Tharoor filed breach of privilege notices against each other after a spat on social media over the Congress leader’s remarks on summoning Facebook India’s executives over reports that the social media giant went soft on some BJP leaders who had made hate speeches ahead of the general elections last year.