Many on Twitter reminded Om Birla that as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha he has to abide by the Constitution, which mandates equality among all, after he tweeted calling Brahmins the most superior group in the society.
He had, on Sunday, 8 September, tweeted a picture of a group of men taken at an event in Kota and said, “Brahmins have always had a high status in society. This status is a result of their sacrifice and dedication. This is the reason that Brahmins have always been the guiding light for society.”
Saying “It’s a joke on us that a casteist like him is our Lok Sabha speaker,” Dalit leader and Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani asked Birla to “publicly apologise” for the remark.
Senior journalist Dilip Mandal pointed the context that Om Birla missed in his tweet: Brahmins became superior by oppressing other caste groups.
Since Birla, who belongs to Baniya community, was vouching for Brahmins, another journalist who writes on issues of the oppressed community, Tejas Harad alleged a “symbiotic relationship” between Brahmins and Baniyas.
Many others too sought an apology from the Lok Sabha Speaker and emphasised on the need to change the “casteist mindset” of society.
Birla, a close aide of PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and a two-time Kota MP, was unanimously selected as the Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha on 19 June.
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