New Delhi, July 30 -- BJP MP Anurag Thakur on Thursday submitted a notice of breach of privilege and contempt of the House to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for what he termed as "use of unparliamentary and derogatory language and levelling grave and unsubstantiated allegations" against Home Minister Amit Shah.
In the three-page notice, Thakur also requested Birla to refer this matter to the Privilege Committee for a detailed enquiry and appropriate action, including a direction to Gandhi to tender an unconditional apology to the House as well as to Shah.
Referring to the proceedings of the House on July 29, when the debate on the anti-paper leak bill was taking place, Thakur said Gandhi violated Rule 352 while narrating a purported conversation with protesting students."Use of unparliamentary and derogatory language (violation of Rule 352):-During his address to the House, Shri Rahul Gandhi, while narrating a purported conversation with a student, categorised persons into three classes, 'students', 'idiots' and 'andhbhakts', the latter two terms being used to characterise citizens and, by clear implication, political opponents and supporters of the government."
Thakur, an MP from Himachal Pradesh, said this drew immediate objection from the Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who demanded that the words be expunged as unparliamentary. But still, he said, Gandhi has repeated the words, even after being warned by the chair The terms 'idiot' and 'andhbhakt' fall within the category of words that successive Lok Sabha Secretariat compilations of unparliamentary expressions have held unfit, alongside terms such as 'foolish', 'incompetent'. Their use is a direct violation of: Rule 352(ii), which bars a member from making personal references by way of imputing a motive to, or questioning the bona fides of, any person unless necessary to the debate.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.