Congress MLAs sleep on floor of Rajasthan Assembly amid uproar over Minister Avinash Gehlot’s ‘aapki daadi’ remark

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The ‘aapki daadi’ remark

Chaos erupted in Rajasthan Assembly after Minister Gehlot referred to the former PM as “aapki daadi (your grandmother)”. During the Question Hour, Minister Gehlot pointed to the opposition and said, “In the 2023-24 budget of also, like always, you named the scheme (on working women’s hostels) after your ‘daadi’ (grandmother) Indira Gandhi.”

The remark was in response to a question regarding hostels for working women. The remark triggered the Congress MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully, who termed the minister’s words “rubbish” and sought an apology from him. The Assembly was adjourned multiple times on Friday as the Congress MLAs stormed the well.

Six Congress MLAs suspended

As the Assembly resumed in the evening at 4 pm, government chief whip Jogeshwar Garg moved a motion to suspend Dotasra, Ramkesh Meena, Amin Kagzi, Zakir Hussain Gesawat, Hakim Ali Khan and Sanjay Kumar, owing to a “display of indecent and condemnable conduct in the House by members of the Opposition.” The Assembly was adjourned till Monday after the motion was passed by voice vote. Afterwards, the Congress MLAs sat in the well in mark of protest.

What Law Minister said

While briefing media, Law Minister Jogaram Patel said that the Congress MLAs not only stormed the well but also came near the Speaker’s table aggressively. “If they would have come any closer, they would have touched the Speaker and that would have been a blot on Rajasthan’s history which would have never been wiped out,” he said.

The ruling party attempted to break the deadlock but looking at the aggressive nature of Congress MLAs, “we figured it would become very difficult to run the Assembly in this manner and hence the MLAs were suspended”, he said.

Congress demands remark to be expunged

Congress leader and Laxmangarh MLA Govind Singh Dostara slammed the BJP saying disturbing the House is their chief agenda and further alleged that the Speaker has been pressured by the government so that he takes decisions where the Opposition can be silenced.

Dotasra said: “If a minister addresses Indira Ji as ‘aapki daadi’, you can understand whether the minister wants the House to function or provoke the Opposition. Disturbing the House is their chief agenda as they can’t handle their departments while the chief minister remains absent”.

“What we have witnessed in the last 4-5 days is that even the Speaker has been pressured by the government so that he takes decisions where the Opposition can be silenced,” he said and slammed the BJP for using “unparliamentary language for a person who is not a member of the House, is Bharat Ratna, and is not in this world anymore”.

Dotasara demanded that the statement be expunged and the minister should apologise. Commenting on Speaker Vasudev Devnani not expunging Gehlot’s remarks, Dotasra said: “We merely wanted the words to be expunged. (If that would have happened then) This would not have snowballed”.

Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on X that the suspension of Congress MLAs shows that the BJP is adopting the same approach in Rajasthan Assembly as the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, “Just as MPs are suspended there to hide their failures, the same has been done here”.

LoP Jully said: “They should be ashamed for using such language for the Iron Lady who divided Pakistan into two and was martyred for the nation”.