Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi meets BJP MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi who was injured following a clash between Bharat Bloc and NDA MPs at the Parliament premises in New Delhi on December 19, 2024. Photo credit: PTI
Clashes broke out outside Parliament on Thursday (December 19, 2024) and a political row erupted over Home Minister Amit Shah’s comments on Dr BR Ambedkar. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleged that BJP MPs pushed him and prevented him and other opposition MPs from entering Parliament.
His comments came after some BJP MPs claimed Mr Gandhi had pushed an MP, injuring their leader Pratap Sarangi. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju alleged that Mr. Gandhi pushed and physically assaulted two of his MPs, Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey also accused Gandhi of resorting to it “hooliganism” (Hooliganism). Mr. Rijiju said appropriate action would be taken.
Sarangi, who was injured in the clash, was taken to the hospital when the agitating Indian faction and the BJP parliamentarians faced each other in front of Makardwar in Parliament.
Read this also NDA, Bharat Bloc MPs protested on Ambedkar issue
The BJP/NDA opposition was in response to the Bharat Bloc’s opposition to Home Minister Amit Shah’s reference to Ambedkar. The MPs of India held a rally inside the Parliament premises demanding Shah’s apology and resignation.
Amid these recriminations, the proceedings of the Lok Sabha were adjourned within a minute after the reference to grief.
BJP MPs were pushing me: Rahul
“I was trying to enter Parliament and BJP MPs were stopping me, pushing and threatening me,” Mr Gandhi told reporters on the Parliament premises.
Asked if Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi were also pushed, Mr Gandhi said, “It has happened but we don’t bother pushing it around.”
“This is the entry to Parliament, we have the right to enter and BJP members were stopping us from entering,” he alleged and pointed to the Makar Dwar.
Mr. Gandhi said that the central issue was that they were attacking the Constitution and insulting Ambedkar’s memory.
Several Bharat Bloc MPs, including Congress leaders Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest on Wednesday (December 18) at the Parliament premises demanding an apology from Home Minister Amit Shah for his remarks, which he termed as an insult to BR Ambedkar.
After both sides started shouting slogans in an attempt to outdo each other, the MPs of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who were protesting in front of the Parliament’s Makardwar, also came face-to-face with the MPs of the Indian section and there was a clash when the MPs were walking on the road. Inside Parliament House.
(With information from PTI)
published – December 19, 2024 at 12:39 pm IST