Reacting to parts of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech being “expunged” in Lok Sabha yesterday, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday said that “Sansad TV is not under Speaker’s and BJP government’s control”, therefore, he and his party is not aware of it.
While speaking to the reporters, Pralhad Joshi said,” Sansad TV is not under Speaker’s control and not even under our control. So we don’t know what happened. If anything unparliamentary is said it is expunged and it has been an old practice. This is nothing new.”
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that Rahul Gandhi did not use any unparliamentary words.
“If a word is unparliamentary there is a provision to remove it. I don’t think so Rahul Gandhi has used any unparliamentary words. Rahul Gandhi said that Bharat Mata is being humiliated. So he raised this matter. I have taken up this issue with the Lok Sabha Speaker, and he has assured me that he will look into it,” he said.
Rahul Gandhi, who was the first speaker as the no-confidence debate resumed on Wednesday, attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over ethnic violence in Manipur.
Referring to BJP which is in power both at the Centre and in Manipur, he said, “You killed Bharat Mata in Manipur.”
The Congress leader referred to his visit to Manipur and his meetings with victims of violence in the state and said ‘Bharat’ is the voice of the people of the country and that “voice was killed in Manipur”.
“Bharat ek awaaz hai, Bharat hamari janta ki awaaz hai, dil ki awaaz hai. Uss awaaz ki hatya aapne Manipur mein ki. Iska matlab Bharat Mata ki hatya aapne Manipur mein ki.You killed India by killing the people of Manipur. You are a traitor, you are not a patriot,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said that the members should show respect while using the expression ‘Bharat Mata’.
It was the first speech of Rahul Gandhi since his reinstatement as a member of the House after his disqualification following his conviction by a Gujarat court in a defamation case.