Congress leader K. Suresh, who was presiding over the Lok Sabha when BJP member Ramesh Bidhuri abused the BSP’s Danish Ali, has requested Speaker Om Birla to take the “strictest possible action”.

Many MPs are upset that only a warning has been issued to Bidhuri.

Suresh, who is on the panel of chairpersons for the Lok Sabha, had on Thursday
immediately ordered the expletives to be expunged from the records.

On Saturday, he wrote to the Speaker saying he (Suresh) had been unable to understand the enormity of the abuses in the translated form on Thursday. Hindi is not Suresh’s mother tongue and he was listening to the translated version.

“The most appalling and unfortunate incident that shook the very core of every value to which we all stand guard, took place in the new Parliament House where Ramesh Bidhuri misbehaved and brought immense shame to the House,” he wrote.

Recalling the “vulgar expletives, communal remarks and vile comments”, Suresh wrote: “The fact that a member of Parliament is being attacked with the worst form of abuses and insulted for being a Muslim is a clear sign of the dangers posed to our nation’s communal harmony and fundamental rights. I am utterly shocked and absolutely repulsed at the fact that a member of Parliament of the ruling party could openly make such heinous comments and make derogatory remarks, based on a fellow member’s religion and threaten him with assault outside the Parliament precincts.”

“This incident has brought unfathomable shame and loss of dignity for the House and a member of Parliament, behaving like a hatemonger in the hallowed halls of our democracy, is a shocking aberration which must never be tolerated. The very House where (the) Constitution is preserved and fundamental rights are guarded has become a place of religious hatred and discrimination of a member of Parliament” he added.