New Delhi: Responding to expunging of some of his remarks in the Lower House, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said “everything is expunged in PM Modi’s world”.
“In Modi ji’s world, truth can be expunged. But in reality, the truth can’t be expunged. I said what I had to say, that is the truth. They can expunge as much as they want. Truth is truth,” he told reporters outside Parliament.
While speaking during the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address to a joint sitting of Parliament on Monday, Rahul launched a no-holds-barred attack on the BJP, accusing the leaders of the ruling party of dividing people on communal lines. He called out Narendra Modi, and Hindu nationalist organisations, including both the BJP and RSS while asserting that Hinduism is not about spreading fear, hatred, and falsehoods.
Holding up pictures of Lord Shiva, Guru Nanak and Jesus Christ, he referred to Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism and Jainism to underline the importance of fearlessness.
Besides Modi, who rose twice to rebut the Congress leader’s remarks, at least five cabinet ministers interjected during his speech that lasted for about an hour and 40 minutes, with Home Minister Amit Shah demanding an apology from him.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that his statement has been misconstrued: “First of all, he made no such statement. He made a statement about those who do politics under the pretence of Hindu. There is a vast difference between them and us. They use Hinduism for their politics and we believe in our beliefs. They spread hatred under the pretext of politics and on the basis of religion, we work on the basis of love, inclusiveness and ethos of Hinduism. I think Rahul Gandhi made it very clear that the BJP is not the ‘thekedar’ of Hinduism, Narendra Modi is not the entire Hindu community.”
SP MP Awadhesh Prasad added: “So far as I know, so far as I heard, he didn’t mean that for the entire Hindu community. Maybe, he meant that for the people of BJP. But it wasn’t for the entire Hindu community. Hindu community has a glorious history, a glorious tradition…He had no ill-intent towards Hindus…It is the right of the Speaker that the words that were not in accordance with the traditions and Constitution can be expunged.”
The portions of his speech expunged include his comments on Hindus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP-RSS, his remarks on industrialists Adani and Ambani, his accusations that the NEET exam is for rich people and there is no place in it for meritorious students, and that the Agniveer Scheme is not of the Indian Army, but of the PMO (Prime Minister’s Office), according to India Today.
Meanwhile, Modi on Tuesday chaired the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) parliamentary party meeting and advised all its MPs to not behave the way the Congress leader did in the Lok Sabha and counter his comments with facts. He also asked them to follow parliamentary rules and conduct, and learn from senior members about the best practices. He told the new members that there is no better place to learn than in Parliament and they must visit the Prime Ministers’ Museum to know about the great journey of these leaders and learn from their experience, News18 reported, quoting sources.
“Today, the Prime Minister gave us an important mantra. He said that every MP has been elected to the House to serve the nation. Irrespective of the party they belong to, service to the nation is our first responsibility. The PM also guided us well regarding the conduct of MPs and said that every MP should present the matters of their constituency in the House very well as per the rules. He also told us to develop expertise in other major issues of interest,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju told reporters.
The PM is slated to speak in the Lower House of Parliament later in the day.