Indian parliament (Lok Sabha) have been witnessing uproar over heated ‘intolerance’ debate and the latest edition on Monday stooped to an all time low after an opposition lawmaker attributed a statement to central government home minister Rajnath Singh during a debate on ‘rising intolerance’ in India.
CPI(M) leader Mohammad Salim, who initiated the debate, accused Singh of making the statement to a news magazine in the course of his speech.
According to Salim, Rajnath, during an interview last year after Narendra Modi became prime minister, said: “India had the first Hindu ruler after 800 years.”
Singh, however, denied having ever having made such a statement and demanded an apology over Salim’s remarks.
“I have never been hurt as much as I have been today in my entire Parliamentary career. This is a huge allegation. He should prove it or apologise,” Singh told the Lok Sabha.
Salim after reading out the comment from the magazine said: “I was quoting Rajnath Singh from a magazine, if he is denying then let him send a legal notice to the publication house.”
The arguments led to an uproar in Lok Sabha and the Speaker later expunged Salim’s comment.
Earlier, the leftist leader also alleged that “we are straying from our culture of tolerance” and that “we want a rational India, secular India.”
“This isn’t a fascist country, it’s a democratic country. We want rational and secular India,” said Salim.
The debate comes two days after Modi met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former PM Manmohan Singh at his residence, setting aside a history of mutual bitterness amid signs that the government is reaching out to the opposition to avoid a repeat of the monsoon session washout.
It is being seen as a conciliatory move by the government that has in the past, doggedly refused to comment on the issue, pointing the finger at the Congress for trying to stoke discontent against the NDA.
Since the beginning of the session, the opposition parties, led by Congress, have been giving the ruling NDA alliance a hard time by initiating debate over ‘intolerance’ in society and action against some ministers for their alleged provocative remarks.
On Sunday, Indian Parliamentary Affairs minister M Venkaiah Naidu had said the government was ready for a debate on intolerance if the opposition allowed the House to function but defended the government’s record, indicating the debate was likely to be stormy.
A lot is at stake in the month-long winter session as the government has lined up an ambitious list of bills led by the goods and services tax bill, a landmark tax reform initiative.
