Hooda says yes to probe after Gurgaon echoes in House

Earlier, Left parties joined the Opposition in walking out of the Lok Sabha, dissatisfied with Patil’s reply on ‘‘police brutality’’ in Gurgaon.

With the entire House, barring Congress members and union ministers, demanding a judicial probe into the Gurgaon incident, and the dismissal of the Hooda government in Haryana, the proceedings became tumultuous.

Speaker Somnath Chatterjee’s pleas for order seemed to fall on deaf ears, as he was forced to term the proceedings ‘‘shameful’’ and call it a ‘‘sad day’’ for Parliament.

After the Speaker allowed discussion on the incident — in which, he said, he wen against the rules since it was a state matter — Patil read out a statement which created a further furore in the House.

‘‘What happened yesterday should not have happened,’’ the Home Minister said, adding that both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, had voiced their concern and expressed unhappiness over the incident.

On the basis of information received from the Haryana government, Patil said 92 people were injured, of whom 42 had already been discharged from hospitals. A Deputy Commissioner of Police was seriously injured and both his hands broken, Patil said, adding that in all, 35 police personnel had sustained injuries. Two vehicles were also set ablaze by the protesters, he said.

This triggered loud protests from the Opposition and even from UPA allies. CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta said Patil had read a statement for the police. Leader of the Opposition L K Advani said that the home minister’s statement did not reflect a ‘‘sense of outrage’’. When the BJP members started trooping out of the house, Patil asked, ‘‘What happened in Gujarat and what had Advani done at that time as home minister?’’

BJP leader V.K. Malhotra, who started the discussion, described the incident as ‘‘worse than the Jallianwala Bagh massacre”. Had there been a civilised government at the Centre, he said, it would have dismissed the Haryana government by now.

This led to a furore with Congress members protesting the remarks. Heated exchanges between the Opposition and Treasury benches followed. Malhotra said over 700 workers were in hospital and hundreds were missing. He demanded a statement from the Prime Minister, as did many Left members.

Gurudas Dasgupta said he was ‘‘the only member of the House who was present in Gurgaon when the incident took place’’. He described the police attack as ‘‘brutal, barbaric and an organised gangsterism by the police which is supposed to be the custodian of law and order’’.

Claiming he was manhandled by the police despite having shown his MP’s identity card, the CPI leader said that he was not allowed to remove the injured union leader from the site. He wanted to bring him to AIIMS, he said.

Dasgupta also demanded the dismissal of the police officers responsible for the incident and a judicial probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge. CPM leader Basudeb Acharia said Sonia Gandhi should prevail upon the state government for strict action against police officials responsible for the brutal lathicharge.

He alleged that multinational companies like Honda were not abiding by the law of the land, especially labour laws. Hundreds of workers had been retrenched and minimum wages not given, he said.

Ramji Lal Suman of Samajwadi Party said Honda workers were sacked only because they wanted to form a Union, which is their democratic right. ‘‘When it comes to workers, the administration and management of these companies join hands to suppress them,’’ he said.

Nitish Kumar took a dig at the Congress, saying the Gurgaon incident was a literal example of slogan — Congress ka haath gareebon key sath.

‘‘Taking a cue from the Prime Minister’s praise (at Oxford) for British rule, the Haryana police thought it could repeat Jallianwala Bagh. We demand the immediate dismissal of the state government,’’ he said.