The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 1 for his election speeches, and also attacked the workings of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Vice President of India and Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar expunged most of the remarks made against the RSS and Mr. Modi.
Calling the RSS “an organisation engaged in working for the nation”, Mr. Dhankhar asked, “Is it a crime to be a member of an organisation?”
“You are saying a particular person is a member of the RSS. Is that in itself a crime? The RSS is an organisation working for the nation. They have a lot of intelligent people,” Mr. Dhankhar said.
“You are bashing an organisation which is working tirelessly for the nation,” he added.
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Mr. Kharge was interrupted several times by the Treasury Benches during the course of his 90-minute speech on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.
Mr. Kharge attacked the government on its failure to address the ethnic conflict in Manipur, and questioned the Prime Minister for not visiting the State even once, while he had the time to visit 14 foreign countries in the past one year.
The Congress leader demanded a caste census, an investigation into the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) issue, and called for a withdrawal of the Agnipath scheme.
Mr. Kharge mentioned comments made by Mr. Modi in the run-up to the 2024 General Election, presenting data on the number of times the latter had referred to “Muslims” and “Pakistan”. Mr. Dhankhar asked him to authenticate his assertions and refused to accept the newspaper clippings the Congress leader showed to buttress his points.
Mr. Kharge was backed by his party colleague and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who asked how an Opposition MP could authenticate what the Prime Minister had said other than by citing news reports.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi concurred as she thumped the desk.
The Chair, however, did not accept the arguments and expunged the remarks made by Mr. Kharge from the records.
The Leader of the Opposition insisted that he was only seeking to highlight the divisive nature of the speeches delivered by the Prime Minister. He also said no other PM before Mr. Modi had ever made such comments.
Mr. Kharge cited a remark by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Manipur, but that too was expunged, with Mr. Dhankar saying the Congress leader was contradicting himself.
Leader of the House and BJP president J.P. Nadda, too, objected to say the remarks made by Mr. Kharge against the RSS were regrettable.
The Congress leader also raised the issue of the relocation of statues of prominent personalities, including Mahatma Gandhi and Chhatrapati Shivaji, in the Parliament premises.
Published - July 01, 2024 05:03 pm IST
