NEW DELHI, Dec 19: Competing marches by opposition and NDA MPs led to shoving and jostling inside Parliament House premises on Thursday with BJP’s Pratap Sarangi getting injured in the melee amid allegations that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi pushed him.
Sarangi was taken to hospital with an injury on his forehead. Both the marches were taken out over the Ambedkar issue, with the opposition accusing Home Minister Amit Shah of insulting the chief architect of the Constitution. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha later told reporters that while he was trying to enter the Parliament House, BJP members pushed and “threatened” him.
“It is our right to enter Parliament,” he said.
Asked if Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi had also been pushed, Rahul Gandhi said, “It has happened but we don’t get bothered with this pushing around.”
“This is the entry to Parliament, we have a right to go inside and the BJP members were stopping us from going inside,” he alleged and pointed to the Makar Dwar.
Nishikant Dubey of the BJP alleged that Rahul Gandhi pushed an aged parliamentarian leading to his fall and subsequent injury.
Union Minister Shivraj Chouhan told TV reporters that Sarangi received a few stitches to stop the bleeding.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have been adjourned following noisy protests by the Opposition seeking an apology from Home Minister Amit Shah for his remarks on B R Ambedkar.
Dressed in blue, a colour associated with B R Ambedkar, INDIA bloc MPs, including the Congress’ Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in the Parliament premises demanding Amit Shah’s resignation for his remarks related to the chief architect of the Constitution.
BJP-led NDA parliamentarians also carried out a march within Parliament premises, raising slogans and carrying placards demanding an apology from the opposition Congress for allegedly insulting Ambedkar.
As the INDIA bloc parliamentarians came face to face with the ruling coalition MPs in front of the Makar Dar of Parliament, the two sides engaged in loud sloganeering in a bid to outdo each other.
The INDIA bloc members first staged a protest at B R Ambedkar’s statue in Parliament premises, carrying posters that read ‘Main Bhi Ambedkar’, ‘Jai Bhim’ and ‘Amit Shah maafi maango’.
They then took out a protest march on the Parliament premises. MPs of the Congress, DMK, RJD, SP, the Left and NCP(SP), among others, participated in the protest. Several opposition MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and K Kanimozhi, were seen wearing blue.
Earlier, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha chaired a meeting of the Congress’ Lok Sabha MPs in the main committee room.
The opposition on Wednesday seized on Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on B R Ambedkar to corner the government and demanded his resignation for what they called was an insult to the architect of the Constitution.
The attack from virtually all opposition parties, including the Congress, TMC, DMK, RJD, Left parties and Shiv Sena-UBT, led to the adjournment of both Houses of Parliament and prompted the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to come out in stout defence of Shah.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Derek O’Brien has also submitted a notice to move a privilege motion against Shah in the Rajya Sabha where the home minister had said on Tuesday evening that Congress leaders would have got a place in heaven had they chanted the name of God rather than following the fashion of repeating Ambedkar’s name.
The hullabaloo in Parliament also spilled onto the streets of the national capital and places as far as Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu. In Delhi, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal led hundreds of supporters to gather outside the BJP office and protest noisily amid slogans “Amit Shah maafi mango, Amit Shah sharm karo”.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leader Rahul Gandhi, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, DMK chief M K Stalin, Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav were among those who have slammed Shah for his remarks. (Agencies)
