Soon after BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri made objectionable comments against BSP MP Danish Ali in the Lok Sabha on Thursday night, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stood up to promptly ask the chairperson to delete Bidhuri’s comments from the records of the debate, and apologised to Danish Ali.
“Sir, you have shown greatness…” Benny Behanan, Congress MP from Chalakudy in Kerala, responded to Singh as he apologised.
The records of the debate are now public on the Lok Sabha website. The Chairperson, Kodikunnil Suresh, informed the Defence Minister that Bidhuri’s comments had already been deleted.
Rajnath Singh told the House that he had not been able to hear the entire speech by Bidhuri, but Opposition MPs were saying that their feelings had been hurt by some of the comments. “I would urge you to remove such statements from the records…if he has said something that has hurt their feelings, I express regret for the same.”
Many MPs sprung to Danish Ali’s defence. DMK MP DM Kathir Anand said Bidhuri “must apologise”, while party colleague Kanimozhi also tried to speak to back the demand. Congress MP S Jothimani stood up to say: “Sir, this is not done”. NK Premchandran, RSP MP from Kerala, said: “Sir, expunging it (Bidhuri’s comments) from the records is not enough.”
Danish Ali, meanwhile, kept trying to make his point, asking how Bidhuri could make such comments about him. “How dare he say this? He must apologise. What is this? How can he be allowed to speak like this? Whom is he calling a … (Expunged as ordered by the Chair)? Are there … (Expunged as ordered by the Chair) in this House? Can … (Expunged as ordered by the Chair) enter in this House?… He must apologise (sic),” the records of the debate now show.
Ali had raised a point of order to protest Bidhuri’s comments around 11pm.
The Speaker has since issued a stern warning to Bidhuri and the BJP has issued him a show-cause notice.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, meanwhile, has demanded an inquiry committee into the entire episode, claiming Danish Ali had used derogatory words for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, provoking and instigating Ramesh Bidhuri.
“Ali screamed across the aisle, without the microphone but could be clearly heard saying ‘neech ko neech nahi kahenge to kya kahenge‘,” says the letter by Dubey to the Speaker. The Parliament debate records, however, do not mention Ali saying any such thing.
Ali has clarified that while the BJP is running a false narrative that he had provoked Bidhuri, “the truth is that I worked to save the dignity of the post of Prime Minister and made the Chairman aware of the highly objectionable words related to Modi ji and demanded their removal from the proceedings.”
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