New Delhi, Apr 20 (Agencies): The Congress protested in the Lok Sabha on Monday against Union minister Giriraj Singh's March 31 remarks about its president Sonia Gandhi, forcing the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader to regret his statement.
As soon as the House met for the day, signalling the start to the second part of the Budget session, Congress members raked up Singh's remarks against Sonia, terming it as an attack on womanhood. Singh's comment had been made when Parliament was in recess and the Rajya Sabha had just been prorogued.
Singh, minister of state for micro, small & medium enterprises, had kicked up a row by asking whether Congress would have accepted Sonia's leadership had she not been white-skinned. Sonia is of Italian descent.
”Had Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have then accepted her (Sonia's) leadership?” he had said.
The leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said Bharatiya Janata Party lawmakers and ministers have continuously been making unwarranted and irresponsible statements. Such remarks create fissures in the society and hurt the harmony, he said.
At one point, Kharge got offended when his mike was switched off. “Whenever I speak, the mike is switched off...I have to protest,” he said.
Jyotiradiya Scindia (Congress) said such remarks make people hang their heads in shame. “It is an insult to the Nigerians also...the Nigerian High Commissioner has also protested.”
He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should apologise and this time, the minister should not apologise but tender his resignation.
Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, while rejecting a spate of adjournment motions moved by the Congress, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Left, allowed Scindia to raise the issue of the remarks made by Giriraj.
She said she was also hurt by the remarks and such statements should not be made.
Both Sonia and Giriraj Singh were present in the House.
M. Venkaiah Naidu, the Parliamentary Afairs Minister, said the government and BJP did not approve of such remarks but there was no need to bring the Prime Minister in the picture.
Kharge said the PM was in picture as a minister has made the remarks, and so it becomes the collective responsibility of the Council of Ministers.
As the Speaker took up the Question Hour, Congress members trooped into the Well raising slogans. The House was then adjourned for 20 minutes. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi entered the House just as it was adjourned.
As soon as the House met again at 11.45am, Singh rose to say that his intention was not to insult anyone. But if his remarks have hurt anyone, “I regret it,” he said.
The Lok Sabha schedule had the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2015, listed for introduction on Monday.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.
from Top Stories - Google News http://ift.tt/1HKP8fP
via IFTTT
0 comments:
Post a Comment