Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury speaks during the discussion on the Motion of No-Confidence in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon session of Parliament, in New Delhi, Thursday, Aug. 10, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
It is time for polarisation, communalisation and saffronisation to quit India, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said on Thursday, hitting back at the BJP-led government. He was responding to BJP's slogan on the 81st anniversary of Quit India movement calling for riddance of dynasticism, corruption, and appeasement politics in an apparent attack on the Congress and the opposition bloc INDIA.
Speaking during a debate on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha, Chowdhury said that he was not worried about Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister 100 times, but the Congress party is concerned about the people of this country.
Recalling the Quit India movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi in 1942, the Congress leader said 'there should be Quit India, but it should be quit communalism, quit polarisation, and quit saffronisation'.
Chowdhury said that the Congress only wanted the prime minister to give a message of peace to the people of Manipur and at least talk about it once in his 'Mann ki Baat' radio broadcast.
'The violence in Manipur is not a small issue. Manipur is facing ethnic violence and a civil war. It has assumed global dimension and was discussed in European Parliament as well as in America. Manipur issue cannot be confined to any state...and that is why Prime Minister's intervention is indispensable,' Chowdhury said .
He further said that the INDIA alliance had no choice but to come up with a no-confidence motion to ensure presence of Prime Minister in the Lok Sabha.
Referring to the Mahabharata, Chowdhury said that the king should not be blind to what is happening against women whether it is in Hastinapur or Manipur.
His comments evoked sharp reaction from Home Minister Amit Shah who urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to ask Chaudhary to exercise restraint and maintain the decorum of the House.
Chowdhury responded by saying why Shah was getting angry when the prime minister had no issues with his speech.
Later, Speaker Om Birla expunged certain remarks of Chowdhury.
Responding to Shah's Wednesday's intervention in the Lok Sabha, Chowdhury said that the home minister should not have talked about creating a 'buffer zone' between the two communities in Manipur.
The Congress leader said that the buffer zone is there in the LoC (Line of Control ) between two countries.
Chowdhury also regretted that two MPs from Manipur have not been allowed to speak in the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.
Later, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi in a post on X condemned Chowdhury's statement against the Prime Minister Modi, saying that the Congress leader should apologise to the House and also to the nation.
'Congress leaders are competing with each other in making silly remarks! The remarks of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury about Prime Minister are highly condemnable and objectionable. He should apologise to the entire country and the House (Lok Sabha),' he said.