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House acrimony goes from face-off to dust-up
Both Houses assembled but were adjourned within minutes as accusations flew thick and fast, and MPs from both sides assembled to give their version of what transpired.
New Delhi When government and Opposition lawmakers started gathering in the Parliament complex on Thursday morning, tensions were simmering. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) legislators had already clashed in a high-voltage face-off on Wednesday over BR Ambedkar’s legacy and walked into the premises with portraits and posters about India’s first law minister.
At 10am, a group of NDA MPs with placards assembled near the Makar Dwar, the entrance to Parliament reserved for lawmakers to begin their protest over the Congress’s alleged disrespect towards Ambedkar.
A few metres away where a statue of Ambedkar stood obscured by the winter fog, Opposition members trooped in, shouting slogans against Union home minister Amit Shah’s statement in the Rajya Sabha earlier this week on Ambedkar, and demanded his apology.
By 10.30am, the Parliament House precinct was reverberating with slogans of “Ambedkar ka apmaan, nahi sahega Hindustan (India won’t tolerate Ambedkar’s insult)...Jai Bhim... Maafi Maango (say sorry)”.
As the decibel rose, it became difficult to tell which group was raising what slogans.
While BJP MPs stayed put at the entrance to the Makar Dwar, a spot that till Wednesday was being used by the Opposition to mount their protest; INDIA bloc members shouted slogans and carried placards in a march around the old Parliament building.
By 10.40am, the political opponents were closing in on each other. Tensions were rising as was the noise. There was pushing and jostling as MPs lined up to give quick bytes to harried reporters.
What transpired in the next 10 minutes is unclear. The BJP alleged that Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, wanted to walk up the stairs and was ostensibly stopped from going in. In the melee, two BJP MPs — Pratap Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput — were injured, and the ruling party alleged that at least one of them was shoved by Rahul Gandhi. The Congress, on its part, alleged that BJP members pushed Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, and injured both his knees.
Chaos broke out at 10.50am, when Sarangi, a piece of gauge held to his left temple, was wheeled into an ambulance and driven to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in Delhi. Drops of blood were conspicuous from a distance on Telugu Desam Party member Byreddy Shabari’s dress. She was standing closest to Sarangi when the alleged jostling occurred.
Rajput, who also complained of injuries, was driven to the same hospital.
“The security had made arrangements for the MPs to go in, a passage was left free on both sides for them to climb the steps... but Gandhi and his party leaders tried to push and walk through the middle where the MPs were standing,” said Manoj Tewari, the BJP lawmaker from Delhi.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP, B Phagnon Konyak, then went to submit a complaint to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and alleged that Gandhi “started shouting” at her “and made her feel uncomfortable”. “It is not that I cannot defend myself, but still, it is very unbecoming, so I did not do that. His actions today are very bad, and I feel disheartened. No scheduled tribe lady member should be made to feel like this. I seek your protection,” she said.
Rahul Gandhi refuted these sequence of events, saying that he was trying to get inside Parliament when he was pushed and threatened by BJP MPs. He alleged that Kharge was also pushed.
“This might be on your camera. I was trying to go inside through the Parliament entrance, but BJP MPs were trying to stop me, push me and threaten me. This has happened...Yes, this has happened (Mallikarjun Kharge being pushed),” Rahul Gandhi told reporters.
Both Houses assembled but were adjourned within minutes as accusations flew thick and fast, and MPs from both sides assembled to give their version of what transpired.
At 11.53am, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju blamed the Congress for breaching decorum.
“In Parliament, protests have been happening and Congress and its allies have been doing it every day... Today the NDA protested too, because the Congress has been lying inside and outside Parliament about the home minister’s statement,” he said.
“Which law has empowered Rahul Gandhi to push and shove MPs. He is the LoP, can he push others... We have been showing decorum, we do not resort to any physical action, in a democracy you can express yourself, but have you (Gandhi) learnt Karate Kung Fu to beat other MPs?” the minister asked.
The Congress countered the allegations. “We do not get affected by jostling. But this is the entrance, and we have the right to go in. BJP MPs were trying to stop us from going in... The central issue is that they are attacking the Constitution and insulting the memory of Ambedkar ji,” Rahul Gandhi said .
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the BJP indulged in “pushing and goondagardi (hooliganism)”. “Right before my eyes, Kharge ji was pushed and he fell on the ground. Then they pushed a CPI(M) MP who fell on Kharge ji,” she said.
Communist Party of India members also submitted a complaint to Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, saying they were prevented from protesting. “We were prevented and pushed down by some members of BJP at Makar Dwar. I fell down and am slightly injured,” said P Sandosh Kumar.
At around 4pm, Congress leaders wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, saying that Rahul Gandhi was “manhandled by at least 3 BJP MPs” and requested the Speaker to take the matter with utmost seriousness and take appropriate action.
Around the same time, a delegation of BJP leaders led by MPs Anurag Thakur, Bansuri Swaraj and Himang Joshi filed a police complaint in Parliament Street police station.
“When security forces asked Rahul Gandhi and other INDI bloc MPs to take a designated path to enter Parliament, he expressed his anger and did not take that designated path. He started walking towards where NDA MPs were protesting,” Thakur said.
The Congress, on the other hand, lodged a complaint signed by MPs Digvijay Singh and Rajiv Shukla, saying that they were staging a protest at Parliament when BJP MPs assaulted Mallikarjun Kharge, Neeraj Dangi and others.
