All India Speakers’ Conference: Amit Shah to inaugurate meet on Aug 24 at Delhi Assembly
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will inaugurate the All India Speakers’ Conference on August 24 at the Delhi Assembly, its Speaker Vijender Gupta announce on Monday.
The centenary of Vitthalbhai Patel’s leadership will be marked by a grand exhibition, documentary release, and special postage stamp at the All India Speakers’ Conference in Delhi, he added.
Elections to the post of the Speaker of the Central Legislative Assembly, as Parliament was called in the pre-independence days, were held for the first time on August 24, 1925 when Swarajist Party nominee Vitthalbhai J Patel won the post against T Rangachariar.
Patel, the first non-official member to be elected as the Speaker, won the maiden election with a narrow margin of two votes. Patel had polled 58 votes against 56 garnered by Rangachariar.
The All India Speakers’ Conference, to be inaugurated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah will feature a grand exhibition and a specially commissioned documentary celebrating Patel’s life, parliamentary contributions, and role in India’s freedom movement.
A total of 125 liaison officers from the Delhi government have been assigned duties as protocol officers to look after State Guests.
The Speakers and Deputy Speakers of various state Assemblies shall be accorded the status of State Guests during the conference, Gupta said.
The keynote speakers at the event include Harivansh Narayan Singh, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha; Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of Culture and Minister of Tourism; Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena and Chief Minister Rekha Gupta will also participate in the event, the Speaker said.
Gupta shared that 32 Speakers and Deputy Speakers of Legislative Assemblies, and chairmen and deputy chairmen of Legislative Councils from across the nation have confirmed their participation.
The thematic sessions will include: Vitthalbhai Patel’s role in the making of India’s Constitution and parliamentary institutions, the role of pre-Independence Central Legislative Assembly leaders in the freedom struggle and social reforms, artificial intelligence and its relationship with transparency, accountability, and trust in governments, and India as the “Mother of Democracy”.
The building — constructed in 1912 after Delhi became the capital in 1911 — witnessed the earliest legislative debates on education for all, the abolition of exploitative labour contracts, and women’s suffrage, Gupta said.
It was here that leaders such as Lala Lajpat Rai, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, and Gopal Krishna Gokhale used the legislative forum to challenge colonial policies, he shared.
“It was also here that opposition to the Rowlatt Act ignited the Non-Cooperation Movement, revealing the oppressive nature of British rule,” he added.
To honour this legacy, Shah will inaugurate an exhibition of archival documents, photographs, and verbatim records — including those from the day when Shaheed Bhagat Singh threw bombs in the Assembly.
A specially commissioned documentary will be screened, chronicling Mahatma Gandhi’s three visits to the House, the protests against the Simon Commission, and the day Vitthalbhai Patel assumed the office of Speaker exactly a century ago.
Hospitality arrangements include a Welcome Dinner hosted by the Delhi Chief Minister on August 23, a dinner hosted by Om Birla at the Parliament House on August 24, and a dinner hosted by Saxena at the Raj Niwas on August 25.
