Unprecedented scenes were witnessed in Parliament precincts on Thursday with Congress and BJP MPs shoving each other at the gate where protests over Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on B. R. Ambedkar was being staged by the Opposition. Two BJP members, who were also part of their own demonstration against what the ruling party said was the Congress’s “insult” of Ambedkar, were hospitalised and a woman BJP MP accused Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi of “misbehaving” with her.
Both sides lodged complaints at Parliament Street police station, blaming each other for causing injury. They also complained to the respective presiding officers in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha against each other.
BJP MPs Mukesh Rajput and Pratap Chandra Sarangi sustained injuries and were admitted to the RML hospital, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking to them over phone to enquire about their health. “We have filed a complaint against Rahul Gandhi for physical assault and incitement,” BJP MP Anurag Thakur said. Addressing a press conference later, senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan, along with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Anurag Thakur, accused Rahul Gandhi of behaving like a “hoodlum”.
Phangnon Konyak, a woman BJP MP from Nagaland, said in the Rajya Sabha that Gandhi came in “very close proximity of me” during the protest and shouted at her. He made her uncomfortable, she said, accusing him of conduct unbecoming of his position as the Leader of Opposition.
Gandhi denied all charges, saying that it was he who was pushed by a ruling party member while Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused protesting BJP members of pushing him and injuring his knee. In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Kharge claimed he was pushed by BJP MPs, lost his balance and was forced to sit on the ground, injuring his knees that have already undergone surgery.
Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters later, Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and party leader Jairam Ramesh said that the entire “drama is being enacted” by the BJP as a way of distracting from two main issues – Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement on Ambedkar and BJP’s shielding of business tycoon Gautam Adani.
What kicked up the storm?
The Home Minister, while replying to a debate on the Constitution in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, had said: “Abhi ek fashion ho gaya hai – Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar. Itna naam agar bhagwan ka lete to saat janmon tak swarg mil jata (It has become a fashion to keep repeating Ambedkar’s name. Had you taken God’s name so many times, you would have secured a place in heaven)”.
Since then, the Opposition has erupted, asking for Shah’s resignation for insulting Ambedkar while the BJP has maintained that it is the Congress, particularly India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who had insulted Ambedkar.
Adding to the series of protests since then, a number of MPs of the ruling NDA were protesting at the steps of Parliament’s ‘Makar Dwar’, while MPs from the Congress and its allies were holding demonstrationa over Shah’s remarks on Thursday, when the confrontation started. BJP MPs claimed that Gandhi tried to push his way inside the Parliament through the middle of the stairs where they were standing, ignoring a side passage, and caused injuries in the ensuing jostling. However, opposition MPs claimed that the BJP members refused to give way to Gandhi who was heading to the Lok Sabha to attend the House proceedings.
Gandhi told reporters, “I was trying to enter Parliament and the BJP MPs were stopping me, pushing me and threatening me.” The incident happened some minutes before both Houses were to convene at 11 am.