The name Manu is not unparliamentary: K C Tyagi

But surely you cannot give her a name different from the one she has, can you?

I stick to what I said. I am ready for a debate with her on this matter in the House.

But the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman has expunged your remark. So, how can you have a debate on it?

He did so because of the furore created by BJP members. He did not cite any rule for it. I checked up the list of unparliamentary words and the name Manu is certainly not unparliamentary. I stand by what I had said and I will repeat it tomorrow.

She will object to it again.

That is not the solution. She should either accept this label or say that she does not believe in Manu’s philosophy. If she rejects it, I will give it up.

Why so much importance to Manu?

The BJP subscribes to the world-view of former RSS chief MS Golwalkar. He repeatedly alludes to Manu in his book. For him, even the tricolour is not the right flag. His favourite is the saffron flag. Let her disown all of that.

Why have you suddenly decided to make it an issue?

The occasion is the caste-based discrimination against Dalit students. Being a firm believer in the ideas propagated by Ram Manohar Lohia, Karpuri Thakur, B R Ambedkar and Mahatma Phule, it is time we stood up for all of them.