NEW DELHI: The confrontation in Parliament over Ambedkar took an ugly turn Thursday as BJP and Congress MPs came face to face at the entrance of the new Parliament while accusing each other of insulting the Dalit icon.
BJP’s Lok Sabha MP Pratap Sarangi suffered a cut on his forehead and was taken to hospital along with colleague Mukesh Rajput. Both accused leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi of shoving his way through BJP MPs standing at the main entrance, Makar Dwar.
Later, both sides filed complaints against each other. PTI reported, quoting sources, that LS Speaker Om Birla had banned demonstrations at any of the Parliament gates.
The scuffle happened minutes before 11am when the two Houses were to gather for what would have been another stormy round. A big group of BJP MPs had gathered at the entrance to protest against Congress’s alleged insult of Ambedkar. As Rahul reached, he decided to walk through the saffron column.
Soon, Sarangi was seen tumbling and bleeding. He was also hurt in the knee. The 70-year-old MP from Balasore in Odisha, and his colleagues, said he suffered the injury after Rahul shoved Rajput who was standing next to him, bringing both of them down.
No one’s admitting guilt. Parties blame each other for clash
Kya Rahul, kya? Aap ko sharam nahin aati hai, budhe ko gira diya (What Rahul, are you not ashamed of what you have done to an elderly member)?” BJP MP Nishikant Dubey was heard repeatedly shouting at Rahul as the Congress MP paused to look at Sarangi and Rajput.
“What happened? I did not push him, he pushed me,” Rahul replied.
Amid the welter of allegations and counter-allegations, Sarangi with a bleeding temple, and Rajput were rushed to RML Hospital. As doctors stitched Sarangi’s wound and ran a series of scans on him, defence minister Rajnath Singh and agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and others visited the hospital to check on them. PM Modi spoke with the two MPs. In a statement, RML Hospital said Sarangi was profusely bleeding when he was brought in.
With BJP accusing Rahul of physical violence and goonish behaviour, Congress members wrote to LS Speaker Om Birla alleging that the LoP had been manhandled by three BJP MPs.
They also alleged that BJP MPs had shoved party chief Mallikarjun Kharge.
Ministers and BJP MPs, however, pressed with the charge that Rahul was the instigator. They said that faced with similar protests from Congress MPs who have been regularly blocking the entrance on a range of issues for years, BJP parliamentarians would take the passage created by security personnel to help them sidestep the opposition MPs.
At a press conference later, Kharge said BJP was trying to divert attention from home minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar.
Both Houses were adjourned soon after they assembled, and then again at 2pm for the day when Congress and other opposition parties continued their protest demanding an apology and resignation of home minister Amit Shah.
Speaking to reporters, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju said, “BJP MPs were protesting outside the Parliament gate where Rahul Gandhi with a few of his MPs physically assaulted them, who were peacefully protesting against falsehoods being spread against Amit Shah on the Ambedkar issue.”
He said the entire incident was recorded on CCTV cameras and everyone saw that Rahul physically attacked NDA MPs.
