Chaos erupted inside Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla’s chamber on Wednesday after several Congress MPs staged a protest against the Chair for allowing BJP MP Nishikant Dubey to speak in the House where he referred to certain books related to former PM Jawaharlal Nehru.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju was also present inside the Speaker’s chamber when the MPs staged their protest. An argument also broke out between the Opposition and ruling BJP MP, with Dubey also present there.
Dubey had levelled some allegations on Nehru and Indira Gandhi as he referred to some books while speaking in the House.
“Why are there different rules? Why did he make derogatory personal comments against Nehru and Indira?” the Congress MPs asked.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra alleged that Dubey was speaking on directions of the government to create disruption in the House.
“The govt is not letting a member quote from a published book, but he (BJP MP Nishikant Dubey) brings 6 books to the House and quotes from them. This government wants to show that only their way will work in Parliament. This is a disrespect of the Speaker and Parliament,” Priyanka said.
She further added that the government has brought up Nehru to distract the people of the nation because they don’t want them to hear what General Naravane has said about the country’s leadership.
“Never. This is not how a country is run. What they did today was to show that only what they want will happen in the House, and they won’t allow the LoP to speak….This is a very serious issue, and everyone should understand this. It is the first time that the govt itself doesn’t want the House to function,” she added.
What Dubey said on quoting books on Nehru in Lok Sabha?
Addressing a press conference, Nishikant Dubey said that the books he referred to in Lok Sabha are published but have been banned in India, while Parliament proceedings were stalled due to a book that had not been published anywhere.
He urged the Speaker to have a discussion on the books, saying public should know the story of before 2014.
“I urge the speaker and this is the same thing that I said in the Parliament also, that there should be a discussion on the books which are published and the public should know the story of before 2014, about which the majority of the population has no knowledge, there should be a discussion on it in the Parliament…The Gandhi-Nehru family will be exposed following the discussion in the Parliament…,” he said.
These developments came after Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to speak in the House during the debate on President’s Address as he sought to quote an unpublished memoir of former Army Chief MM Naravane.
The MPs also protested in the Parliament premises, chanting ‘LoP ko bolne do’ slogans.
The controversy erupted after Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed that Chinese tanks entered the Indian territory and cited a magazine article on Naravane’s book.
Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Kiren Rijiju objected to this and argued that an unpublished book cannot be quoted in the House.
Speaking to reporters over the issue, Rahul Gandhi today said that the government was not allowing the former Army Chief General MM Naravane’s memoir to be published in India.
“It’s available abroad, I think. It’s published abroad. Govt is not allowing it to be published here. That’s what I believe. The book is available. You can imagine where the book (that he is carrying today) has come from. You think about where it came from,” he added.