New Delhi: A huge outcry erupted in parliament on Friday as the ruling BJP protested against Rahul Gandhi’s comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The moment the Congress MP stood up to ask a question on medical colleges, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan shot back that he condemned in “no uncertain words” the “outlandish” remarks made by Gandhi against PM Modi.
“Sir, please excuse me. Before I begin answering this question of dear Shri Rahul Gandhi-ji. I want to condemn in no uncertain words the outlandish language that he has used against the prime minister of the country,” Harsh Vardhan said.
Speaker Om Birla asked the minister to stick to his answer.
As the minister continued to read out the statement, Congress MPs came to the speaker’s chair shouting slogans against Harsh Vardhan.
A Congress MP from Tamil Nadu, Manickam Tagore, walked over to the ruling party benches and appeared to be trying to aggressively reach Harsh Vardhan, who was sitting in the second row.
A BJP member, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, was seen holding back the Congress MP by his arm. Congress MP from Kerala Hibi Eden was also seen joining the chaos.
Several MPs from both sides and union ministers, including Smriti Irani, prevented the members from coming to blows.
“Guys, what are you doing. What is going on,” Smriti Irani was heard saying.
In the midst of all this, Harsh Vardhan did not stop reading his statement. “In a recent speech, he (Gandhi) used words like six mahina baad, iss desh ka yuva, Narendra Modi ko dande maar maar ke desh se bahar karenge. (After six months, youth of the country would beat Modi with sticks and throw him out). I don’t think in the worst of cases our party leaders have made such outlandish personal remarks against him threatening to beat him with dandas (sticks) and throwing him out of the country,” he said, urging the house to condemn the comments.
The speaker was forced to adjourn the house. When the house resumed, more disruptions forced another break.
“The orchestrated ruckus in Parliament today was designed to prevent me from questioning the government. The youth of India can clearly see that the PM has no clue about how to tackle the unemployment crisis. To protect him, the BJP will keep disrupting Parliament, preventing debate,” Gandhi told reporters.
Several BJP MPs demanded Manickam Tagore’s expulsion and also Gandhi’s apology.
The Congress leader had made the remarks during a rally for the Delhi election tomorrow.
On Thursday, PM Modi referred to the comment and said he would increase the number of Surya Namaskars (a yoga exercise) to strengthen his back for the “attack”.
When Gandhi got up to interject, the Prime Minister also derided what he called a belated response and compared the Congress MP to a slow reacting tubelight.
