It was a bumpy start to the second week of the Winter Session of Parliament, with the Lok Sabha witnessing repeated adjournments over certain remarks attributed to Home Minister Rajnath Singh by CPI(M) MP Mohammed Salim.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan later expunged those remarks which had led to uproarious scenes in the House. Some MPs from the Treasury Benches demanded a privilege motion against Salim, who stuck to his guns, quoting a news magazine to substantiate the remarks which he said had been made by the Home Minister. The logjam occurred during the debate on ‘intolerance’, notices for which were given by CPI(M), Congress and RJD members.

Initiating the discussion, Mohammad Salim asserted that “one election cannot change the (secular) spirit of India”. He then went on to quote a national magazine and attributed certain ‘Hindutva’ remarks to the Home Minister.

This led to an uproar, with the Home Minister categorically denying ever having said so. “Mohd. Salim levelled a serious allegation against me. He should say when and where I made such a statement or apologise…I haven’t been more hurt in my parliamentary career. I think no Home Minister should continue after making such a comment,” said Rajnath Singh.

While the BJP members kept asking for Salim’s apology, the CPI(M) leader stood his ground, insisting that he had only quoted from a magazine. “If you feel it has misquoted you, why don’t you sue them for defamation. I am only bringing it to your notice,” he said, while admitting that Singh was among the first from the government to speak out against Dadri lynching incident.

Amid the uproar, Salim walked to the Lok Sabha Secretary General and authenticated the article containing Singh’s alleged remarks. Quoting the magazine, Salim said Singh had made the remark at an internal meeting of the RSS. When some BJP members questioned whether he was present when such a reported comment was made, the CPI(M) member said, “I don’t have such misfortune as to attend RSS meeting.”

Members in the Treasury Benches, including Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy, demanded that Salim withdraw his remark till the Speaker Sumitra Mahajan takes a view by examining all sides, including authenticity of the report.

With both sides sticking to their guns and uproar continuing, the Speaker had to adjourn the House. When the House reassembled, Rudy asked Salim to withdraw the remark till he is able to prove that the Home Minister had indeed authored them. To this, Salim responded by asserting that the Government’s attitude smacked of “intolerance” and refused to withdraw his allegation. The House had to be adjourned again with the BJP members demanding an apology from Salim and the Opposition MPs supporting him vociferously.

Once again, after the House reassembled, Salim stood his ground while maintaining that he had, “nothing personal against Rajnath Singh. In fact, I would have been happy if instead of Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh was the Prime Minister”.

Finally, the Speaker expunged Salim’s remarks and the discussion continued after 4 p.m.

The Lok Sabha, which has some key Bills such as on Electricity, Prevention of Corruption, MSMEs and Factories Act lined up this week, is heading for more discussions after adjournment notices on rising prices of essentials, such as pulses, by the Congress and Trinamool Congress were disallowed by the Speaker with the promise that the matter would be taken up later.

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