Kolkata: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Friday urged lawmakers in Bengal to become the voice of the poor and marginalised people of the country. The entire country was now looking forward to Bengal, he said during an orientation session for newly elected MLAs.“People of West Bengal have their expectations and aspirations. I urge you to become the voice of the poor. We want to change the life of the most marginalised person in a society. They have elected you as lawmakers. Our target is to become their voice in Vidhan Sabha,” Birla said.“If we are able to do that, the future will remember us. We have to work continuously to strengthen democracy,” he said, urging lawmakers to build the future foundation of Bengal.Union minister Kiren Rijiju, who was also present, said he had witnessed a trend of buying votes in parts of the country. “In Bengal I have seen that not much money is spent during elections. But in some places, we have seen that votes are purchased. That needs to be stopped,” he said.Rijiju said the West Bengal Legislative Assembly will be completely digitised in the next three-four months. “We have released the funds for that. West Bengal has also joined the National e-Vidhan application,” he said.CM Suvendu Adhikari said the current govt is inclusive and believes in accommodating everyone. “The earlier govt did not invite any opposition neta in govt programmes. Even BDOs would not pick up calls from opposition MLAs. We have changed the system. Even the opposition and the party in office had equal opportunity to voice their concerns during the budget session,” he said.The Lok Sabha secretariat and the Parliamentary Research and Training Institute for Democracies, in collaboration with Bengal assembly, organised the orientation programme to familiarise newly elected members with various aspects of parliamentary and legislative functioning.
