Today, PM Modi proposed the name of Kota’s BJP MP Om Birla for the post of speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha. The proposal was accepted by all major parties, including the Congress, TMC, DMK, BJD and Om Birla was elected uncontested as the speaker.
Elections for Lok Sabha speaker underway. Om Birla to be elected as Speaker of the house. pic.twitter.com/rFBUpgsJfp
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 19, 2019
PM Modi, proposing Birla’s name, had stated, ” Om Birla Ji has been in public life for years, he started as a student leader and has been serving the society since then, without a break.”
PM Modi added that Birla represents Kota, a place that has become like a mini-India, associated with education and learning. He mentioned that he has also worked with Birla for a long time.
PM in LS: Personally, I remember working with Om Birla Ji for a long time. He represents Kota,a place that is mini-India, land associated with education&learning. He has been in public life for yrs. He began as a student leader&has been serving society since then without a break. pic.twitter.com/S3qZ1T0XgM
— ANI (@ANI) June 19, 2019
Om Birla, aged 57, has been elected twice as a BJP MP from the Kota-Bundi seat. Prior to that, he has also been an MLA in the Rajasthan assembly thrice. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, Birla had defeated the Congress candidate Ramnarayan Meena by over 2.5 lakh votes.
Om Birla is a member of the Standing Committee on Energy in Parliament, member of Committee on Petitions and Consultative Committee for Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Birla has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since he was a student in school. His public life had started with the post of President of the Students Association in the Gumanpura Senior Secondary School. He later became the joint secretary at the Rajasthan College of Commerce, Kota. He was BJYM Kota district president for over 4 years. He went on to become the BJYM state president for over 6 years and then the National Vice President of BJYM for over 6 years.
Om Birla’s presence and rise within the BJP circles have been much like those of PM Modi and Amit Shah, rising as ground level party workers to state then to national leadership roles.
Birla is well known in Rajasthan for his welfare and charity initiatives. He had started and managed a program called Paridhan where clothes and books were provided to the poor. He also runs free meal programs, blood donation camps and medicine banks to make medicine available to the poor free of cost. The Paridhan project also employs tailors who stitch clothes for the needy as per their requirements. The Prasadam initiative, a widely popular campaign in Kota, feeds the poor twice a day.
Birla had also started the project of ‘Rain Basera’ (night shelters) in Kota where the poor and homeless are provided shelter, mattress and blankets for the night during winters. He had also run a much-appreciated relief and rehabilitation campaign during the Uttarakhand floods of 2013.
