PM Modi rebuts Rahul Gandhi: Calling Hindu society violent a serious issue; Shah seeks apology

Union Home Minister Amit Shah sought an apology from the Congress leader.

As the treasury benches protested, Gandhi said “the BJP and the RSS are not the entire Hindu society… Aap Hindu ho hi nahi (You are not Hindus).”

And when he took him on directly, asking “why is the PM always serious?”, Modi, who sat through the address, rose from his seat again and said, “Democracy and the Constitution have taught me that I need to take the Leader of Opposition seriously.”

This itself was rare because members recalled later that the PM had done it only once earlier during a speech by Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in the last Lok Sabha.

While Defence Minister Rajnath Singh accused Gandhi of “misleading” the House, Shah, who made four interventions during the speech, said Gandhi had made several remarks which “were not true and without facts” and he should “authenticate” them.

At one point, Shah turned to Speaker Om Birla: “You are going beyond rules to give them a one-sided concession. We should be protected. This does not work like that.”

Gandhi’s attack on the government over the Agniveer scheme prompted Rajnath Singh to say that the Congress leader was attempting to mislead the House.

“He should not try to mislead the House by making wrong statements. Financial assistance of Rs 1 crore is given to the family of the Agniveer who sacrifices his life while protecting our borders or during war,” Singh said.

Countering Gandhi’s allegation that it was a “scheme by the PM”, Singh said there had been direct communication with many people and 158 organisations were consulted for suggestions on the scheme and that it was a “well thought-out scheme”.

When Gandhi slammed the government over farmer-related issues including MSP for crops, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan objected and accused him of “misleading” the House. Union Minister Gajendra Shekhawat also rose to defend the government’s policies in the agriculture sector.

Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Bhupender Yadav too intervened at different times during Gandhi’s speech.

While Rijiju, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, repeatedly warned Gandhi to follow House rules, Yadav quoted rules multiple times to send warnings.

Later, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, along with Rijiju and BJP leader Sudhanshu Trivedi, held a press conference to rebut Gandhi’s allegations.

The ruling party benches remained silent on Gandhi’s remarks on the issue of Manipur, irregularities in NEET and the BJP’s electoral defeat in Ayodhya. BJP allies too remained calm.

On the other side, INDIA allies backed Gandhi. TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee rose several times from his seat to back Gandhi’s right to express his views and his colleague Saugata Roy read out from the rule books to counter the BJP. TMC, DMK and SP MPs lined up to greet Gandhi after his speech.