Union Minister Anurag Thakur and BJP MP Parvesh Verma on Monday faced Opposition ire in the Lok Sabha over their controversial remarks with the Congress creating ruckus in the House demanding for lodging of a case against Thakur for exhorting participants of a poll rally in the national capital to raise “shoot the traitors” slogan.
The Opposition members including those of the Congress and the DMK also staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha in protest as Verma, was barred by the Election Commission last week from campaigning for four days for his controversial remarks against anti-CAA protesters at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, rose from his seat to initiate a debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address.
Thakur, Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs who too was barred by the poll panel last week from participating in poll campaigns for 72 hours, was confronted by the Opposition with slogan 'goli marna band karo (stop shooting bullets)'.
The Opposition members began protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), national population register (NPR) and national register of citizens (NCR) plan soon after the House assembled for the day. They raised their pitch whenever Thakur stood up to give a reply to the questions pertaining to his ministry.
Targetting Thakur for his controversial remarks, Congress' leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the government cannot silence people's "boli" (voice) with "goli (bullets)."
“They are fake Hindus. Had they been real Hindus, people would not have been gunned down,” Chowdhury said targetting the treasury benches in an apparent reference to the various incidents of violence, police crackdown on anti-CAA protesters and death of several people in police firing in some of the States including Uttar Pradesh.
Verma, while initiating a debate, slammed the Congress for its opposition to the CAA. He also accused the Congress of indulging in vote bank politics.
"They should know that it is not Rajiv Feroze Khan government, it is Narendra Modi's government. We will not take back CAA. It is a question of the country's integrity. If opposition members chant 'Jai Shri Ram', their sins will be washed off,” the BJP MP said.
Raising raised the incidents of violence against the anti-CAA protesters, Congress' Gaurav Gogoi trained guns at the BJP government, alleging that the "political masters at the top" had given directions to the minister to make inflammatory speeches.
“In front of the Delhi Police, a boy fired on the people. They think that they can rule like dictators and make such speeches. It is unfortunate. The minds of young people are being polluted,” the Congress leader said, asking the government to talk about the real problems of poverty, unemployment, and inequality, instead of dividing people on communal lines for votes.