Lok Sabha leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi, addressed the house on Wednesday regarding the anti-paper leak bill. However, the Congress MP's speech sparked chaos after he mentioned “three categories of people”, including students and andhbhakts (blind followres), plus anoter word that the ruling NDA deemed as “unparliamentary language” and was later expunged by the Speaker.
Addressing the Lok Sabha, Gandhi recalled his conversation with an 18-year-old student, who stated that there are three categories of people, in the context of the recent student protests.
Rahul Gandhi also called on the politicians to respect the expression of the students.
“If my friends in the BJP were to go and ask their own children about what their brothers and sisters were doing, they would find agreement among their own children. There is nothing wrong with what happened, and every Indian should be proud,” he said.
What did Rahul Gandhi say? Full text
Truth is sweet. A student keeps running after the truth. For him or her, truth is sweet. Like Gandhiji said, the windows of his house are open to all winds. Then I asked her, ‘What about the [EXPUNGED]?’ And she said…The hallmark of a student is that the student wears the truth on his own chest, proudly. It’s written here. Then I said, ‘Okay, what about the other type of person who is not a student?’
{{/usCountry}}Truth is sweet. A student keeps running after the truth. For him or her, truth is sweet. Like Gandhiji said, the windows of his house are open to all winds. Then I asked her, ‘What about the [EXPUNGED]?’ And she said…The hallmark of a student is that the student wears the truth on his own chest, proudly. It’s written here. Then I said, ‘Okay, what about the other type of person who is not a student?’
{{/usCountry}}She said, ‘The other type requires an image. It requires an image. And as that image is not true—because the [EXPUNGED] is trying to pretend that he is God—he has to create this massive image.’ Then I asked another question. I thought there is the student, and then there is the [EXPUNGED], so I asked her, ‘Tell me one thing, where does the third category fit?’ She said, ‘Which third category?’I said, ‘Andhbhakt. Where should andhbhakt be placed?’
She said to me, ‘Andhbhakt is a person who is absolutely convinced that another idiot is God.’
So these are the three categories: the student, the [EXPUNGED], and the andhbhakt who follows the [EXPUNGED].
BJP flags unparliamentary language
Hitting back, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju interrupted the speech and flagged issues with it.
“Had Rahul Gandhi not used unparliamentary word, nobody would have objected. I believe that he is using a word in the name of a student, but it is he who is using it...He cannot use unparliamentary word, it should be expunged,” said Rijiju.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh also slammed Gandhi and called for the words used by Gandhi to be expunged. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also ordered the expression to be expunged from the proceedings.