Rahul Gandhi says Priyanka’s maiden Parliament speech better than his: Recalling his first Lok Sabha speech

It has been almost 20 years since Rahul Gandhi’s first speech in Lok Sabha, as Member of Parliament (MP) from Amethi. Compared with that, Priyanka’s speech was certainly longer, touching on a far wider variety of issues.

Here’s how Rahul Gandhi’s debut speech in Parliament went.

Rahul Gandhi’s maiden speech in Parliament

The first time Rahul spoke in Parliament was on the issue of sugarcane farmers, on March 21, 2005. Incidentally, he spoke just after Yogi Adityanath, who was speaking on the issue of gaushalas (cow shelters) in New Delhi. As the then Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, told Adityanath that “I have kept my word. I have called you first”, Rahul spoke up. “Sir, kindly permit me to raise, during the Zero Hour, a matter relating to the sugarcane farmers of our country.”

He then added, “The cane growers work hard and contribute immensely to our economy. It Is the responsibility of the State Government to ensure that our farmers get the correct price for their produce. The Uttar Pradesh Government made a statement in the Supreme Court on 11th January, 2005 stating that the private sugarcane mills had paid all the arrears to the cane farmers of Uttar Pradesh. However, the Uttar Pradesh Cane Commissioner has recently said In ‘Aajtak’ that a sum of Rs 517 crore which were the arrear for the year 2002-03 has not yet been paid. This is extremely unfair to our farmers.”

He then urged “upon the Government of India to see that the State Government complies with the directions given by the Supreme Court in their final judgement dated 5th May, 2004 and our farmers are given their due.”

After this, the Speaker told him, “I compliment you on your maiden speech.”

Rahul was the MP from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, and sugarcane was an important issue in his constituency. Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party was then the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. At the Centre, the UPA led by Congress was in power.

In comparison with Rahul’s short speech focused on a local issue, Priyanka spoke for 32 minutes, highlighting the contributions made by Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, tackling criticism about the Emergency, and directly taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Rahul’s first speech was not an anomaly. In his first two terms as MP, the Congress leader spoke little. As The Indian Express reported in May 2015, “In the 10 years between Rahul’s first speech in the Lok Sabha in March 2005 till the beginning of this session, he had spoken all of seven times.”

What is Zero Hour, in which Rahul made his maiden speech?

Geneally, MPs raise questions for the government and various ministers to answer during the Question Hour, which is strictly regulated. Question Hour, on the other hand, “is an Indian parliamentary innovation. The phrase does not find mention in the rules of procedure,” as Chakshu Roy wrote for The Indian Express earlier.

“The concept of Zero Hour started organically in the first decade of Indian Parliament, when MPs felt the need for raising important constituency and national issues. During the initial days, Parliament used to break for lunch at 1 pm. Therefore, the opportunity for MPs to raise national issues without an advance notice became available at 12 pm and could last for an hour until the House adjourned for lunch. This led to the hour being popularly referred to as Zero Hour and the issues being raised during this time as Zero Hour submissions,” Roy wrote.