Om Birla presents flowers to former Speaker PA Sangma on his birthday

New Delhi [India]September 1 (ANI): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla laid flowers on former Lok Sabha Speaker PA Sangma on the occasion of his birthday at the Main Hall of the Parliament House in Delhi on Sunday.

Harivansh Narayan Singh, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, MPs and other dignitaries also laid flowers to the former Speaker.

Sangma served as the 11th Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998. On 23 May 1996, he was unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 11th Lok Sabha, winning the support of all political parties.

Born on September 1, 1947 in Chapahati village in West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, he was a man of many talents. Before entering politics, he had been a lecturer, lawyer and journalist in the course of his career.

He was also the fourth Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990.

According to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Sangma, as Speaker, ensured that members followed the rules even amidst stormy debates. Parliamentary democracy, he noted, means free debate, objective deliberation and healthy criticism, and it is the Speaker’s job to ensure that these goals are achieved.

Besides serving nine terms in the Lok Sabha, Sangma was also a member of the Union Cabinet in important ministries such as Home, Commerce, Industry, Labour, Information and Broadcasting and Coal. Sangma died of cardiac arrest on March 4, 2016. (ANI)