The Rajya Sabha witnessed an uproar on Tuesday over an unparliamentary remark by Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, who apologised to the Chair while clarifying that it was meant for the government that was “trying to create a regional divide” in the country.
Congress president and Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday apologised after chaos erupted over his derogatory remark in the Rajya Sabha. He apologised to the Chair while clarifying that it was meant for the government that was “trying to create a regional divide” in the country.
As per the agenda of the day, the Upper House took up a discussion on the working of the Education Ministry after the Question Hour. Deputy Chairman Harivansh called Congress MP Digvijay Singh to initiate a discussion on the working of the education ministry. DMK MPs, who came dressed in black to oppose delimitation and NEP, were on their feet demanding an apology from Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
What happened in Rajya Sabha?
Amid the uproar, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge stood up to intervene. To this, the Chair said Kharge had already been allowed to speak in the morning. Kharge replied that the education minister was not in the House at that time. “This is a dictatorship,” he added. As the Chair said it was Singh’s turn to speak, Kharge said the opposition was prepared to corner the government.
However, Kharge then used a derogatory expression in Hindi to mean that the opposition would “hit back” at the government, leading to an uproar from the treasury benches that claimed the expression was “unparliamentary”.
JP Nadda, Leader of House intervenes
Leader of the House JP Nadda intervened and said the expression used by the Leader of Opposition is condemnable. “The language used by the Leader of Opposition, the aspersions on the chair, is condemnable. This is to be condemned by one and all. The words and language used for the Chair is unpardonable, still he should apologise and the word should be expunged,” he said.
Kharge apologised
Kharge immediately apologised for using the expression, and also clarified that it was not meant for the chair but for government policies. “I am sorry, I was not speaking about you, it was about government policies. I am sorry if you were hurt by my remarks, I apologise to you,” he said. “You are hurting the self-respect of a part of this country and people, and calling them uncultured and uncivilised. The minister should be asked to resign. They are talking about dividing and breaking the country,” Kharge said.
What did Pradhan say that triggered chian of remarks?
It must be noted that Pradhan on Monday slammed the Tamil Nadu government for being critical of three-language policy under the National Education Policy (NEP), accusing it of “ruining the future of the students” in the state for politics. The opposition has raised concern over the comments and has been demanding resignation of the Pradhan.
(With PTI Inputs)
