Renuka laughs, Modi says such laughter only in Ramayana serial

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a dig at Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury for laughing aloud at one of his remarks, saying she must not be stopped as the opportunity to hear such laughter has come only after Ramayana serial.

The sarcasm from both sides  came during Modi's reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President's address in Rajya Sabha.

While Modi was referring to Aadhaar and said that its seeds were sown during A B Vajpayee's government, Chowdhury started laughing loudly.

This irked Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, who admonished her saying, "Unruly behaviour and loose talk" would not be allowed. As she continued laughing, Naidu said, "What is the problem? If you have some problems, go to a doctor."

Modi interjected and then said to cheers from the Treasury benches, "Chairman, my request to you is do not say anything to Renukaji. After the Ramayan serial, we got the privilege of hearing this kind of laughter only today." The Prime Minister did not refer to any character and left the House guessing which character he had likened the Congress MP to.

Later, Chowdhury told reporters, "The Prime Minister made a personal remark. What else do you expect from him? I can't fall to that level to reply. This is actually called denigrating the status of a woman." Countering her, Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani said, "I was present there. I heard the kind of indecent remarks she was making on the Prime Minister. Is it justified  ... and when those remarks are met sarcastically she makes her gender her shield?"

Taking the battle on, BJP's IT Cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted the footage of Rajya Sabha TV when the incident happened and then added a portion of the serial in which a character was seen laughing loudly. He claimed someone sent him the video. "Someone sent me this video clip from Ramayana in response to 'identify the laughter' contest... Can you identify her?"