Lok Sabha discussion on intolerance: Rajnath Singh targeted over a quote that wasn’t

Watch video: Decoding the ‘intolerance’ debate in Parliament

Salim had relied on a report in Outlook magazine that had attributed the remark to Rajnath in the aftermath of the election of Narendra Modi as PM. After the controversy broke in Parliament, Outlook clarified the quote was wrongly attributed to Rajnath and tweeted: “It was not our intention to denigrate the home minister or Parliament. Outlook sincerely regrets the embarrassment caused to Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Mohammad Salim.” The tweet provided a link to a page where Outlook said, “… A remark (‘first Hindu ruler after 800 years’) made by the late Ashok Singhal of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad was erroneously attributed to… Rajnath Singh.”

Rajnath, while disowning the remark, said, “I have never felt as hurt as today.” He challenged Salim to reveal “when and where did I make such a statement” or “apologise”. “A home minister who makes such a statement has no moral right to be the home minister… I speak after weighing every word… People know Rajnath Singh can never make such a statement,” he told the House.

Salim had the treasury benches protesting when he claimed Rajnath made the remark at a meeting of the RSS. “I don’t have the misfortune to attend the RSS meeting,” Salim argued, leading to more protests from BJP members.

But he found himself in a spot after BJD floor leader Bhartruhari Mahtab quoted the rulebook to say no member could level an allegation against a minister without prior notice. Incidentally, Salim seemed to receive support only from fellow Left members.

Salim clarified he was not levelling any allegation nor did he want to cast any aspersion on Rajnath but was only quoting from the weekly. At one stage, he said have been happier if Rajnath were the Prime Minister instead of Modi, drawing jeers from the teasury benches.

The crisis seemed to subside when Speaker Sumitra Mahajan told Salim that she was keeping his remark out of the records till she had examined the remark. But the Home Minister was seen having a word with Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy who stood up to make it clear that it would be difficult to run the House until Salim refused to withdraw his comment.

The Speaker also made the same point, but Salim was unwilling to relent. After repeated adjournments, the Speaker announced that the portion related to the allegation had been expunged as no prior notice had been given by Salim.