Bisheshwar Mishra / New Delhi
Logjam in the Parliament over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remark on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and others continued for the third day on Wednesday. Congress members stalled the proceedings in the Rajya Sabh for the day.
Lok Sabha also witnessed noisy scene over the issue. The Congress members staged a walkout on Prime Minister remarks against Manmohan Singh, however Lower House continued its proceeding.
The Congress raised the issue forcing frequent adjournments of the House (Rajya Sabha). Neither the zero hour nor the question hour could be taken up in the morning. In the afternoon at 2 PM when the House reassembled, Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad made it clear that his party does not want any apology from Mr Modi but he should come to the House and clarify his remarks.
Mr. Azad said, the Prime Minister should tell that his comments were in the context of winning the Gujarat assembly elections and after victory, he is taking his words back. Responding to this, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said, Mr. Modi did not talk about any conspiracy in his remarks.
Congress members came to the well raising slogans and Deputy Chairman Prof P J Kurien adjourned the Upper House to meet tomorrow.
Earlier in the morning, as soon as the House met for the day, Congress members trooped into the well raising slogans on the same issue. Chairman M Venkiah Naidu said, he has not given permission to suspend the question hour and asked them to go back to their seats. When Congress members shouted slogans demanding apology from Modi, Naidu asserted there was no question of apology, since the alleged remarks were not made in the House..
He (Chairman Naidu) reminded the repeated resolutions adopted by the Upper House to maintain dignity and sanctity of the House. As the noisy scenes continued, he adjourned the House till noon.
The Prime Minister had made remarks during Gujarat assembly election campaigns against former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and others over their meeting with a Pakistani delegation in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha has resumed business and taken up discussion on Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property (Amendment) Bill – 2017. However, the Congress members staged a walkout on Prime Minister remarks against Manmohan Singh.
Later speaking to the media Ghulam Nabi Azad said that his party was willing to not press Mr Mody to apologise but he must come to the House and explain what prompted him to make such false allegations. He said that if Mr Modi clarifies that he had made the remark to win the Gujarat elections, acknowledging that it was a false allegations, his party would accept it.
When reminded that Rajya Sabha chairman had said that there was no question of the apology since the matter had not happened in the House, Mr Azad said, the remark was also made against a former vice president of India and the chairman of this House (Hamid Ansari).
In the run up to the Gujarat elections Prime Minister Modi had during his election speeches charged that a secret meeting was held at then Congress member Manishankar Aiyar’s house with a Pakistani delegation lead by former Pakistan Foreign Minister Mehmood Kasuri and which was attended by India’s former Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, former external affairs minister Natwar Singh, former Indian foreign secretary Salman Hyder, former Indian Army chief Deepak Kapoor among others. According to Congress leader Azad this was a very serious charge of painting India’s former Vice President and Prime Minister and Army chief as anti-national. The conspiracy was being hatched to defeat the BJP in Gujarat elections, was the charge.