New Delhi: The row over the remark on Rahul Gandhi’s caste escalated on Wednesday, with Congress MP Charanjit Singh Channi submitting a notice to move a privilege motion in the Lok Sabha against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “endorsing” BJP MP Anurag Thakur’s jibe against the Leader of the Opposition and posting on X a video that allegedly contained certain remarks that were expunged from proceedings.
The issue rocked the Lok Sabha proceedings on Wednesday as the Opposition members sought an apology from Mr Thakur over his remarks on Mr Gandhi and persisted with their demand for a caste census, forcing Speaker Om Birla to briefly adjourn the House in the morning.
Separately, Mr Channi gave a notice to move a privilege motion against Mr Modi in the Lok Sabha for allegedly tweeting a portion of Mr Thakur’s remarks, which were expunged from the proceedings of the House by the Chair.
However, government sources said that the privilege motion may not make headway, as that portion to which the Congress is objecting was “never expunged”. The only part of Mr Thakur’s speech that was expunged was his use of the word “lie”, which is considered unparliamentary, according to the rules of the House, they said.
The sources said this hardly warrants a privilege motion, while adding that the final decision on the matter rests with the Speaker, who will take a call on Mr Channi’s notice by examining the issue and speaking to him if required. The BJP sources said there is a history of Congress MPs, including Mr Gandhi, sharing video links of speeches, of which large portions were expunged.
Mr Thakur’s remarks on Tuesday that “whose caste is not known talks about caste census” triggered an uproar in the House, with the Opposition MPs slamming the comments directed at Mr Gandhi.
Later, Mr Modi praised Mr Thakur’s speech on X.
As soon as Question Hour began, Congress members, including Gaurav Gogoi, sought to raise the issue. However, Mr Birla did not allow the Congress MPs to speak, after which they rushed into the Well of the House and started shouting slogans like “maafi mango”, “apmaan nahi sahenge” and “dadagiri band karo”.
However, Mr Birla persisted with Question Hour. Amidst the din, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju condemned the protests in the House and alleged that the Congress has tried to weaken the country and create violence.
The Congress talks about “jaati” (caste) day and night, he said, stressing that everyone should go by the rules and regulations of the House. Mr Rijiju said that the Opposition doesn’t have any issue and they are playing with the security of the nation by making statements against the Army.
The Congress members responded by displaying placards that read, “We want caste census”.
Mr Birla objected to it, saying that it had been decided that placards will not be displayed in the House. As protests continued, Mr Birla adjourned the House for around 20 minutes.
Before the House was adjourned, four questions and their supplementaries were taken up during the Question Hour amidst protests. Two Congress MPs, including Manickam Tagore, did not ask questions even though their names were called by the Chair during the Question Hour.
The Congress member from Maharashtra, Kirsan Namdeo, however, asked a question as he was apparently unaware of the Congress strategy in the House. Mr Gogoi went to him to stop him and after that Mr Namdeo also joined other protesters in the Well.
Mr Birla told Mr Gogoi, “You have gone to his (Mr Namdeo) seat to stop him from asking the question. You are stopping your own MP from asking the question. You should not do that.”
Later, speaking with the media outside the Parliament, Mr Gogoi said the INDIA bloc protested inside the House on Wednesday against the “insensitive and cruel” remarks made by the BJP leaders during a discussion on the Budget, with respect to the caste census.
“We know the caste census is an emotional issue. Many people in India from the SC, ST and OBC categories want the caste census, but their demand was mocked by the BJP in Parliament. They were insulted by the BJP in Parliament and it is unfortunate that later in the evening, the PM shared that speech and praised that speech,” Mr Gogoi said, adding, “The PM praised the speech that insulted the dalits, OBCs and adivasis. We are here fighting for their rights and fighting for the caste census.”
