The Narendra Modi government’s tactic of whipping up a storm on Rahul Gandhi’s comments in the UK is believed to have been decided at a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior ministers just before the two Houses assembled.
The Opposition believes Rahul’s remarks were cited as a ploy to divert attention from the Adani controversy.
The session witnessed the extraordinary sight of a senior Union minister demanding that the House condemn an Opposition MP over opinions expressed outside Parliament.
In the Lok Sabha, defence minister Rajnath Singh led the charge against Rahul.
House leader Piyush Goyal did so in the Rajya Sabha. The resulting ruckus led to both Houses being adjourned for the day without transacting any business.
Rajnath and Goyal were among the ministers who had attended the meeting with the Prime Minister earlier in the day, sources said.
“Rahul Gandhi, who is a member of this House, had gone to London and tried to defame India and said the democratic system in India is completely crumbling and that foreign powers should save India’s democracy. He tried to deeply hurt India’s honour and prestige,” Rajnath said.
“Mr Speaker, I demand from you that the entire House should condemn his (Rahul’s) behaviour and a direction should go from you that he (Rahul) should apologise in this House.”
BJP members chanted: “Rahul maafi mango (Rahul, apologise).”
Neither Modi nor Rahul attended Parliament on Monday.
In the Rajya Sabha, Goyal did not name Rahul, who is not a member of the Upper House, while accusing him of attacking democracy in India and “insulting Indian defence forces, Parliament, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, judiciary and the press”.
He demanded an apology, and recalled the Emergency to accuse the Congress of having suspended democracy. The leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, condemned Goyal’s remarks. He demanded their expunction from the records, arguing that the rules prohibited accusations against members of the other House.
Kharge cited past instances to buttress his demand. Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar said he would give his ruling on Tuesday. Congress member Digvijaya Singh accused the government of stalling the House.
In the Lok Sabha, the Congress and some other Opposition parties protested against the government offensive and demanded an opportunity to speak after Rajnath’s accusations.
Speaker Om Birla, however, tried to go ahead with Question Hour and then allowed parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi to intervene. Joshi launched a second round of attacks on Rahul. He accused the Congress MP of denigrating India, the “mother of democracy”, on foreign soil and casting aspersions on the Lok Sabha Speaker’s chair by alleging he (Rahul) was not allowed to speak in the House.
Rahul had alleged in London that mikes were switched off in Parliament to prevent criticism of the government. As the Opposition protested and BJP members shouted slogans against Rahul, Birla adjourned the House till 2pm.
Later, the House leaders of the Congress and the DMK, Adhir Chowdhury and T.R.Baalu, walked out of a meeting of the Lok Sabha business advisory committee, protesting the denial of an opportunity to speak in the House after the government’s accusations against Rahul. The Opposition later marched from Parliament to Vijay Chowk, accusing the government of disrupting the House proceedings.
“The government raised the issue (of Rahul’s statement) to divert the attention of the House. We demand a JPC on Adani. When we raise the Adani issue, they raise slogans and our mikes are switched off,” Kharge told reporters.