Congress raises RaGa “not allowed to speak” issue in RS, govt objects

Congress-led Opposition protested in the Rajya Sabha over Lok Sabha Chair “not allowing” Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi to express his views in the House, insisting that this is a violation of his rights. The matter got aggravated when Leader of the House made an obliquely referred to Gandhi as a “naïve child”, leading to a counter by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge that BJP members are like “bonded labour” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the party supporters have indulged in acts like lyinching.

Minutes after the Rajya Sabha proceedings began on Thursday, Leader of the Opposition Kharge brought up the developments which had taken place in Lok Sabha a day before when Prime Minister Modi decided not to speak on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address as Congress members had planned to disrupt him in retaliation for the treatment given to Gandhi.

Kharge said Parliament is constituted by both Houses and proceedings in one affect the other. He made this the ground to bring up the issue but Nadda and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju objected to it, saying the two Houses are independent of each other in their functioning. Chairman CP Radhakrishnan cited a quote of Jawaharlal Nehru to emphasise that the two Houses are independent.


However, the issue heated up when Nadda attacked Gandhi. “The prime minister was ready to answer but you did not let the House function… Here, in this cordial atmosphere, for you to say that democracy is in danger is wrong. I strongly condemn it… I would request you not to make your party a hostage to a naïve child. You are so intelligent and experienced, you should explain to your party that we have to work in a democratic manner, not with arrogance and naivety,” he said.

Kharge used strong words to counter this. “For you to use such words as a naïve child is unfair. Your people behave like bonded labor of Modi. You cannot criticize what happens in our party… These people are not allowing the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha to raise the China issue.”

Rijiju maintained that Gandhi was given 40 minutes by the Chair to speak and alleged that Kharge is misleading the House.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman objected to the charge that BJP supporters are involved in lynching. She recalled the incident in Rajasthan where a tailor was beheaded in protest against the remarks of BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and in another case a man’s hands were chopped.

Nadda stated that the Opposition cannot make rules according to its whims and the country cannot be made a slave to one family, alluding to the Nehru-Gandhi family.

The Opposition staged a walkout in protest while the House continued with the proceedings.