Shri Om Birla is the Hon’ble Speaker of the 17th Lok Sabha and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. As a Speaker, he is the Chairperson of the Business Advisory Committee, Rules Committee, and General Purposes Committee. He is also the Chairperson of the Standing Committee of All India Presiding Officer’s Conference and the Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association India Region. Shri Om Birla serves as the President of the Indian Parliamentary Group, and the India Union Branch of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
A two times Member of Parliament, Shri Om Birla has also previously served as a member of the Committee on Estimates, Petitions, Energy, and Consultative Committee to the Ministry of Social Justice, and Empowerment. Simultaneously, he was also a member of the Joint Committee on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill during the 16th Lok Sabha.
Shri Om Birla is a three-time Member of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly between 2003 and 2013. During his time as an MLA, he has been a member of Estimates Committee ‘A’, and Parliamentary Secretary (Minister of State), Government of Rajasthan. He has also served as a member of the Committee on Public Sector Undertakings, and the General Purpose Committee.
Before his elevation to the Rajasthan State Assembly, Shri Om Birla was elected as the District President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha between 1987 and 1991. Till 1997, he also served as the State President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and till 2003 as the National Vice President of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha three times.
Shri Om Birla entered politics during his college days. In 1978, he became President of the Student’s Union at Government Higher Secondary School in Kota. He was closely associated with Cooperatives and served as the President of Kota Cooperative Consumer Wholesale Bhandar Ltd. and the Rajasthan State Cooperative Consumer Federation Ltd. He has also served first as the Director and then as the Vice-President of the National Cooperative Consumer Federation Ltd.
As a member of the 13th Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha, Shri Om Birla raised more than 500 Questions in House and was included in the list of Sadan Ke Sitare (Star of the House) more than 6 times. He has conducted numerous political and social movements including a mass movement for setting up an IIT in Kota and making drinking water available to the people of Bundi District from the Chambal River.
Shri Om Birla has also organised and promoted schemes such as Super Bazar Yojana and Uphaar Kendra Yojana to encourage cooperative movement in the State. Additionally, he played an instrumental role in organising rescue operations during distress. He led the relief team during the rescue operations to help the victims during the devastating flood in Kota in 2004 and 2019 by providing shelter and medical facilities to them.
Though an accomplished personality today, Shri Om Birla has a humble origin. He has his own share of failures. While at the Government Commerce College, he unsuccessfully ran for elections during his 2nd year and was defeated by just 2 votes. The period between 1997 and 2003 was particularly harsh. The Bharatiya Janata Party had confirmed his candidature from Bundi Constituency for the State Assembly elections in 1998. However, the decision was withdrawn later keeping in mind the demand for a local candidate in the Constituency. Similarly, in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the Party did not consider him.
Nonetheless, putting his failures behind him, Shri Om Birla rose to prominence in 2003 when he defeated Shanti Kumar Dhariwal of the Congress Party with a comfortable margin of over 10,000 votes. Since then, there has been no looking back. He also successfully defended his seat in the succeeding elections to the State Assembly in 2008 and 2013.
Shri Om Birla has frequently voiced his opinions about the Members’ decreased involvement in law-making, lack of discipline, frequent interruptions, and changing socio-economic profiles of the members. He has stated his steadfast conviction that the Office of the Presiding Officer is a sacred institution. The Speakers are no longer as susceptible to political pressure as they once were. The driving force behind this development is technology. He succinctly says, “The whole country is watching us live.”
Even though he is busy with his formal responsibilities as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, he nevertheless makes time for all of his visitors, well-wishers, and constituents. Shri Om Birla, who is known for his simplicity, grit, and compassion, has unquestionably become an inspiration to aspiring politicians and thought leaders in 21st-century Bharat.
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