AMN /
The Rajya Sabha witnessed noisy scenes during the Zero Hour today with several opposition members raising objections to HRD Minister Smriti Irani’s reference to Goddess Durga in the House while replying to a Short Duration Discussion last evening. Raising the issue, Anand Sharma of the Congress said the reference to mythological figure in the House will hurt the religious sentiments of the people.
Responding to this, Mrs Irani said her reference is based on the authenticated documents of the Jawaharlal Nehru University. The Minister said that she referred to the documents as there was a demand from several members for the proof. Mrs Irani said she herself is a worshipper of Goddess Durga . Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said the minister should apologise to the House. As noisy scenes continued, Deputy Chairman Prof. P J Kurien said that he will go through the records and expunge if any irrelevant references.