Lok Sabha disrupted over BJP MP Anurag Thakur’s remarks on Rahul Gandhi’s caste

Speaker Om Birla urged members of the Congress many times to take their seats. “This was decided beforehand in the BAC that no member will come to the House with a placard. I urge you… This is a wrong tradition… This is not how the House is going to run. You are disrupting the House in a planned manner. You have raised all issues. They have raised their issues. But you have no issues. You just want to disrupt the House,” he said.

Following this, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju alleged that the Congress was trying to divide the country. “I condemn what the Opposition is doing in the House. Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party keep shouting caste, caste, caste day and night. And here when he is asked about his caste, they raise questions. Congress has worked towards weakening this country,” he said.

“To divide the country, the Congress has commented against the Indian Army. They have taken steps to bring down the morale of the Indian Army and to weaken Indian democracy. They instigate to spread violence and anarchy in the country. We will work in accordance with the rules and regulations of the House. The Congress is flouting everything that was decided in the BAC,” he added.

Sources said the Congress is considering moving a privilege motion against Thakur over his speech.

On Tuesday, while participating in the debate over the Union Budget, Thakur questioned the Congress over its demand for a caste census and made a jibe on Gandhi’s caste. This triggered an uproar and had Congress members trooping into the Well of the Lok Sabha.

Gandhi accused Thakur of insulting and abusing him during the debate but asserted that he would not seek any apology from the former Union minister. “Anurag Thakur insulted me and I don’t want any apology from him. Abuse or insult me as hard as you can but don’t forget we will pass the caste census in this Parliament for sure,” the Leader of the Opposition said.

PM Modi shares Anurag Thakur’s speech

Thakur’s speech was later endorsed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who posted the full speech on X and called it a “must-hear” that exposed “the dirty politics of INDI Alliance”. The Congress called the prime minister’s move a “serious breach of Parliamentary privilege”.
Tagging Modi’s post on X, Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh said, “This speech that the non-biological Prime Minister calls a ‘must hear’ is a highly abusive and unconstitutional tirade — and by sharing it, he has encouraged a serious breach of Parliamentary privilege.” He said Thakur had brought parliamentary discourse to a new low by asking a fellow MP and the leader of the Opposition about his caste identity.

Upon protests from the Opposition benches, the chair, Jagadambika Pal, assured MPs that Thakur’s comments will be expunged.

However, Ramesh alleged that the unedited speech was uploaded by Sansad TV. “In a departure from all parliamentary norms—expunged comments are edited out of videos uploaded online—Sansad TV has uploaded the unedited speech, and the non-biological Prime Minister has shared and praised it publicly. This is a new and shameful low in the annals of India’s parliamentary history. It reflects the BJP-RSS and Mr. Modi’s deep-rooted casteism,” he said.

Later Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge posted on X, “Yes, I am an Indian and a Dalit, but I don’t know how many we are. Yes, I am a tribal, but I don’t know how many we are. Yes, I am an OBC, but I don’t know how many we are. Today, we all need to assess how much our participation is in the progress of this country. The BJP-RSS people are conspiring to hide this from us, so that they can keep us backward and take over our rights by snatching reservation through conspiracies.”