Second Day of Debate Over No-Confidence Motion Witnesses Fiery Spat
A no-confidence motion moved by the opposition bloc on 26 July against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led federal government over violence in Manipur was scheduled to be debated on 8-10 August.
SputnikThe
Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) on Wednesday witnessed a fiery debate on a
no-confidence motion move by newly formed opposition bloc the
Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on the second day.
The debate was opened by Congress parliamentarian
Rahul Gandhi. He started his speech by thanking Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for reinstating his membership as parliamentarian.
Gandhi further said that he would be speaking from his heart, and as he started speaking about his “Bharat Jodo Yatra” ("Unite India Campaign"), ruling party members started asking him to speak on the no-confidence motion, to which he said “wait for a few more minutes if you have waited for a day”.
Notably, Gandhi was likely to open the debate on the no-confidence motion on Tuesday, but in a last-minute change, his party colleague Gaurav Gogoi kicked off the debate.
Talking about the no-confidence motion, the Gandhi scion targeted the federal government and Prime Minister
Narendra Modi over the
Manipur violence.
“I went to Manipur a few days back. PM Modi did not visit Manipur, because for him, Manipur is not in India. I am saying Manipur but the truth is there is nothing of Manipur left in Manipur. You have divided Manipur in two parts”, Gandhi said while targeting the federal government.
He further said: “You have killed Mother India in Manipur. My one mom is sitting here and the other mother has been killed in Manipur. Indian army can bring peace in Manipur in one day but you are not using them. You want our soldiers to die. If PM Modi is not listening to the heart of India, whose voice does he listen to?”
The statement from Gandhi triggered uproar in the house, as federal minister Kiren Rijiju interrupted him and demanded an apology for his statement.
“Congress party is responsible for the militancy in Northeast. They killed northeast,” Rijiju said.
After Gandhi finished his speech, federal minister and BJP parliamentarian Smriti Irani started her address to the house. However, while she was speaking, the Congress parliamentarian left for Rajasthan to attend a political rally. While leaving the House, Gandhi blew a flying kiss, which was strongly opposed by members of the ruling party.
In her address, Irani lashed out at the newly-formed INDIA opposition bloc.
Tearing into Congress and the opposition bloc, Irani said: “You aren't India because India isn't corrupt, India believes in merit, not dynasty & today of all the days people like you need to remember what was told to the British - Quit India. Corruption Quit India, Dynasty Quit India. Merit now finds place in India”.
Targeting Gandhi over his exit from the house, she said “he ran away from House when he saw me”.
Slamming Congress over several incidents of violence and crime against women, the federal minister said that “a Kashmiri Pandit named Girija Tikku was gang raped and brutally murdered in Kashmir. When this was shown in a movie, some Congress leaders called it propaganda. The same party leaders are talking about Manipur today”.
She even read out several initiatives undertaken by the government for the girls and women, and attacked the opposition for disrupting the parliament.
On Gandhi’s flying kiss in the house, the women and child Development minister said: “I have a qualm. He misbehaved. Only a misogynistic man can give a flying kiss to female parliamentarians. Representative of the family he comes from…He broadcasted what he and his party feel about women…Such an instance was never witnessed before. This shows what he thinks of women. This is obscene”.
Gandhi’s flying kiss in the house triggered a massive controversy, as another federal minister, Shobha Karandlaje, along with other women BJP parliamentarians, gave a written complain to the Lok Sabha speaker, accusing the Congress parliamentarian of insulting women members of the house.
However, a woman lawmaker from Congress, Aradhana Misra, defended Gandhi, as she said that “they could see a woman’s pride being questioned here (parliament), but when two girls were sexually assaulted in Manipur, Smriti Irani didn’t speak about it”.
Meanwhile, parliamentarian from the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction) Priyanka Chaturvedi also slammed the BJP over the flying kiss issue, as she said: “I was at the visitor’s gallery and he (Rahul Gandhi) did it as a gesture of affection. They (BJP) can’t accept love”.
“He made an affectionate gesture, what problem do you have with it? You are habitual of so much hatred that you fail to understand any gesture of love, of affection. You disqualified Rahul Gandhi as an MP and ousted him from his residence. He came back after winning his cases. Still, he is not talking to you out of hatred. If you have a problem, it is your problem and nobody else's”, she said while talking to the media.
The debate on the no-confidence motion will continue on Thursday and is likely to end up with a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.