Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad on Monday questioned the authority of speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury to expunge his withdrawn part of his speech that branded women as ‘showpieces’.
Standing on point of order in Parliament, he said, ‘I’ve withdrawn my words. But you (speaker) expunged the words. You as the guardian of Parliament will, please, consider whether there’s any necessity to expunge the withdrawn words.’
The special envoy to the prime minister said he got deeply hurt as his withdrawn words have been expunged as he never hurled bitter words to anyone in Parliament, United News of Bangladesh reports.
Participating in the budget discussion in the House, the former military ruler on June 29 said the prime minister, the deputy leader of the House, the speaker and the opposition leader all are women, but they are showpieces as it is not the same outside Parliament.
Following the strong protest from the female lawmakers, especially the MPs from the reserved seats, the speaker expunged the part of his speech immediately after he concluded it.
Later, joining the budget discussion on the same day, Ershad’s wife and leader of the opposition Raushon Ershad apologised on his behalf.
About seeking apology by Raushon on his behalf, Ershad said the opposition leader has no jurisdiction to apologise for his speech.
He also demanded that the part of Raushon’s speech be expunged where she sought apology.
‘No one other than me has the jurisdiction to seek apology for my speech. It’s out of jurisdiction of the opposition leader to seek apology. So, expunge the part of her speech,’ said the Jatiya Party chief.
Noting that the women MPs from reserved seats get lower allocation than that of other MPs, Ershad said the MPs from the reserved seats should be given the equal allocation to remove the gender disparity in Parliament.
Source: New Age