The Trinamul Congress on Thursday lambasted the BJP over an alleged gag order against the use of a number of words in Parliament, with Abhishek Banerjee accusing the Narendra Modi government at the Centre of making the people more subservient than they had been under the British colonisation.Trinamul national general-secretary Abhishek said in the evening that he was running out of words to protest the alleged censorship.“This is laughable, what else do I say? Just take a look at how the Centre is being run, autocratic dictatorship at its peak… nothing but vanity and arrogance. In a discussion in Parliament, MPs will take part. I cannot use the word “corrupt”? I cannot use the word “ashamed”? The people have been “betrayed” by the Centre, that I cannot say. I cannot say “hypocrite”. They will determine what I will or will not say. How we will walk. What we will eat, will wear, how we will worship, how we will speak to people… they are issuing diktats, this Centre,” said Mamata Banerjee’s nephew.

“The people of India under British imperialist colonisation, even they were not so subservient. This is a matter of shame. We have run out of words to protest this,” he added during an interaction with journalists.His comments came amid a controversy over the publication of a booklet by the Lok Sabha secretariat, which listed a number of words, such as “ashamed”, “jumlajeevi”, “abused”, “corrupt”, “hypocrisy”, and “incompetent” as “unparliamentary”.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met journalists to clarify that none of the words was banned from use in Parliament, and its members remained free to express views while maintaining decorum.The Diamond Harbour MP was scathing in his criticism of the alleged attempt to ban the use of the words in Parliament.“People elect MPs to speak for them in Parliament. If the government fails, it is our duty, obligation, and commitment as MPs to protest. I cannot call the government a traitor, corrupt, a hypocrite…? They will determine it all. Then there is no point in elections, you determine everything. Run India like a monarchy, or like China,” said the 34-year-old.Abhishek went on to broach the subject of the controversy over the alleged distortion by the BJP-led Centre of India’s national emblem.

“They are changing everything, from names to symbols. What I will say is, far more important than these changes being made to the symbols or names is how the unveiling of the national emblem took place. It should have been done by the President of India (Ram Nath Kovind), he should have been asked to do it, for the emblem atop the new Parliament Building. He who summons the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha,” said Abhishek.“You talk about how you have made a Scheduled Caste representative President, but you do not accord the minimum respect to him or his post…. Token representation,” he added. “When you attended the foundation stone-laying ceremony for the Ram temple at Ayodhya, why did you not invite the President? There were 200-odd priests, how many of them were SCs? Not one.”