NEW DELHI: The lower house of Indian parliament, Lok Sabha, witnessed clashes and repeated adjournments on Monday as it took up a debate on ‘intolerance’ with the opposition criticising the government and triggering a storm after a member attributed ‘Hindu leader’ comments to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who denied it.

The comments by Mohammed Salim of the CPI-M, who cited a news magazine report while initiating the debate, led to a deadlock with the ruling side demanding that he withdraw them or apologise.

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The logjam, because of which the house was adjourned four times, was resolved in the evening after Speaker Sumitra Mahajan expunged the remarks related to the allegations.

This paved the way for resumption of the debate during which opposition parties CPI-M and the Congress alleged that intolerance had increased since the NDA government had taken over.

The BJP hit back by saying that incidents which were being projected by the opposition as examples of intolerance had been taking place in the country for decades. Its member Meenakshi Lekhi also cited home ministry figures to support the stance.

Earlier, the ruling and the opposition sides locked horns after Mr Salim alleged that Mr Singh had been quoted by the magazine as having made the ‘Hindu leader’ remark after Narendra Modi became Prime Minister last year. Citing the magazine, he said Mr Singh had made the remark at an internal meeting of the RSS.

Mr Singh vehemently denied it and said he was never hurt so much in his parliamentary career as he was today.

“He should say when and where I made such a statement or apologise... A home minister who makes such a statement has no moral right to be the home minister. I speak after weighing every word... People know Rajnath Singh can never make such a statement.”

When some BJP members wondered whether he was present when the reported comment was made, the CPI-M member said: “I don’t have such misfortune to attend an RSS meeting.”

Members in the treasury benches, including Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy, demanded that Mr Salim withdraw his remark till the speaker took a view by examining all sides, including authenticity of the report.

Mr Rudy said it would be difficult to run the house till the comments were withdrawn. The speaker asked Mr Salim to agree to this but he declined.

He, however, told the speaker that the remarks might not be made part of the record till she verified them.

He insisted that he was not levelling any allegation nor wanted to cast any aspersion on Mr Singh but was only quoting from a reputed weekly. He said neither the home minister nor the government had ever denied the report.

He also acknowledged that the home minister had been among the first from the government to speak against the Dadri lynching incident.

B. Mahtab of the Biju Janata Dal quoted the rule book to say that an allegation against a minister or member could not be made without giving prior notice.

Saugata Roy of the TMC batted for Mr Salim by citing another rule.

Amid the uproar, Mr Salim walked to the Lok Sabha secretary general and authenticated the article containing the alleged remarks.

In a way, he said, he had helped the minister as the Intelligence Bureau and police should have told him about this earlier because the issue was dated Nov 16.

The speaker told the member that she was keeping his remarks out of records till she examined them.

After repeated adjournments, she announced that the portion related to the allegation had been expunged because no prior notice had been given by Mr Salim.

As the debate resumed, Mr Salim alleged that intolerance was on the rise and the government had failed to check this. To press his point, he referred to returning of awards by writers, artists and film-makers.

“In the name of religion, atrocities are being committed and the government is keeping silent instead of taking strong action against killing of minorities, dalits and rationalists,” alleged the CPI-M member who had given notice for the debate on the subject.

Making religion a shield against injustice is not a sustainable proposition, he said.

A series of incidents was a reflection of the fact that there was some problem in “fundamental thinking” and untruth and violence had become order of the day, he said.

Remarks of Gen V.K. Singh over the dalit killing in Haryana were also raised by Mr Salim.

Congress member K.C. Venugopal said it was only in the past 15-16 months that the chain of the events had led to “destruction of secular fabric” of the country.

He raised the Dadri issue, killing of dalit in Haryana and unbridled comments by various ministers on intolerance.

“No mature remark from the prime minister came even after a series of incidents of intolerance. Inaction gave courage to intolerant forces,” he said.

“We must differentiate between tolerant Hinduism and intolerant Hindutva,” he added.

By arrangement with the Times of India

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2015

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