Rahul targets Pralhad Joshi outside House; he must ‘learn to respect elders’, says BJP

BJP chief national spokesperson Anil Baluni later termed the Wayanad MP’s remarks “misleading, unfortunate and condemnable”. “This kind of unrestrained and misleading comment about a Union Minister on the floor of the House cannot be accepted in a healthy democracy,” he said.

As the Treasury Benches rose in protest against the remarks, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi rushed out of the House and returned with a sheet of paper. He handed it over to Priyanka even as Congress MPs rushed towards the Well and senior MPs from the ruling alliance went into a snap huddle, followed by demands that the Wayanad MP apologise.

The proof, Priyanka said in response, was an article that she said could be used to authenticate her comments. The Speaker then intervened, asking MPs on both sides of the aisle to concentrate on the anti-paper leak Bill instead.

“The case in reference to which Priyanka Vadra ji and Rahul Gandhi ji have mentioned the Union Minister’s comment, is completely wrong. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has never made any such comment in the said case. He had only remarked on the legal process and neither on the case nor its merit,” Baluni said.

“LoP Rahul Gandhi ji and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra ji should have read and understood properly but, modifying statements, misleading the nation and making unrestrained comments according to their convenience has become the Congress’ habit,” he said.

Later, Gandhi, with Priyanka by his side, addressed reporters outside the House. The new Education Minister was a “defender of rapists”, he alleged.

“As the Education Minister of India, the BJP puts a man who is a defender of rapists. That is the filthiest type of man. There can be no filthier man than somebody who says that rapists need protection. That is the Education Minister of India today. It’s a strange reaction from the PM. There are so many people in his Cabinet; he could have chosen any one of them. But he chooses a person who protects rapists,” said Gandhi.

“The Gandhi family thinks they can say or do whatever they wish, but they have to understand that there are Rules and Procedures which need to be followed. They need to bear this in mind,” BJP MP Nishikant Dubey told The Indian Express when asked about Priyanka’s remarks.

Outside the House, Dubey said, “I wish he had learned to respect his elders. In front of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ji, he tore up a Bill and called the Prime Minister a joker. In this case, this is a poor ordinary person (Joshi).”

In October 2022, breaking the Centre’s silence on the premature release of 11 men serving life sentences in the 2002 Bilkis Bano gangrape case, Joshi, then the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines, said it was done “as per the legal provision”.

“Whatever is done is as per the legal provision. After one spends required time in jail, there is a provision to get free. In this case, that provision, which is absolutely legal, has been done,” Joshi had told The Indian Express at the time.

The remarks came a day after the Gujarat government told the Supreme Court that it had decided to release the convicts in the Bilkis Bano case as they had “completed 14 years and above in prison… their behaviour was found to be good” and the Centre had also “conveyed (its) concurrence/ approval”. Joshi was the first Union Minister to speak on the matter.