Rajya Sabha gets communal violence debate, finally

Opposition leaders slammed the government over the communal situation.

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Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad warned PM Narendra Modi that the threat he faces is from inside.

A debate on communal violence, something that never took off during the winter session because of the government’s refusal of a statement from the Prime Minister, happened in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday during the discussion on the motion of thanks to the President’s address.

Opposition leaders slammed the government over the communal situation as well as the land acquisition ordinance, with JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav warning the government that the ordinance amounted to “putting your hand inside the tiger’s mouth”.

Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad warned PM Narendra Modi, who sat through his entire speech , that the threat he faces is from inside. “Beware of the termites within, they tend to hollow out the entire tree. All this ghar wapsi, love-jihad, church attacks… the head of a parent organisation of BJP recently asked Hindus to unite. Unite against what? If Muslims say unite to bring back the Mughal era, if Buddhists say unite to bring back the era of Ashoka and if Christians unite to bring back the 200 years of British rule, where will that leave the country?”

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Azad said the reason he keeps security men is not because he is scared of Hindus. “I am scared of terrorists from my own religion. I am not scared of Hindus. We need to unite against terror, against poverty, not against each other…”

TMC’s Derek O’Brien talked about himself as born in a “Christian family in a Hindu neighbourhood in a street of Kolkata named after a Muslim” before describing loudspeakers, rumours and technology being used to vitiate the atmosphere.

Speakers also targeted the President’s address, with the rejoinder that it was prepared by the government. Sharad Yadav asked why it has no mention of black money, thanking Amit Shah for “telling the truth that promises made at the time of elections are merely electoral idioms.”

BJP’s Chandan Mitra highlighted recent government schemes.