New Delhi: Thursday turned out to be a stormy day in the Parliament as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress carried protests over alleged insult to the Dalit icon BR Ambedkar by each other. While Congress alleged that Union Home Minister Amit Shah insulted Ambedkar during his speech in the Parliament earlier this week and demanded his resignation and apology, ruling BJP accused the grand old party of being biased towards the founding member of the Constitution.
At one time during their protests, NDA and the INDIA bloc MPs came face-to-face during their protest during which BJP MP Pratap sarangi suffered injuries in his head. While the BJP alleged that Sarangi was injured after being pushed by Rahul Gandhi, the Congress claimed that NDA MPs tried to stop them from entering the Parliament.
What Rahul Gandhi said about injuries to Pratap Sarangi?
“Rahul Gandhi pushed an MP who fell on me after which I fell down…I was standing near the stairs when Rahul Gandhi came and pushed an MP who then fell on me,” said Sarangi while being rushed to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital for treatment.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi alleged that BJP MPs were pushing him and stopping him and other Opposition MPs from entering Parliament.
“I was trying to enter Parliament and the BJP MPs were stopping me, pushing me and threatening me,” Gandhi told reporters in Parliament premises.
When asked if Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi had also been pushed, Rahul Gandhi said, “It has happened but we don’t get bothered with this pushing around.” “This is the entry to Parliament, we have a right to go inside and the BJP members were stopping us from going inside,” he alleged and pointed to the Makar Dwar.
What BJP said on injuries to Pratap Sarangi?
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju says, “While the NDA MPs were protesting at the Makar Dwar, the main gate, the Congress MPs led by Rahul Gandhi came and assaulted, pushed two MPs of the BJP and pushed around other MPs also. Two of the BJP MPs Pratap Singh Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput have sustained grievous injury,” said Union Minister Kiren Rijiju.
Rijiju also demanded an apology from Rahul for causing the ‘gravest injury’ to NDA MPs.
“Rahul Gandhi must understand and tender his apology to the nation and to the MPs to whom he has caused the gravest injury. Appropriate action will be taken. First, we will see the level of injury because there was a report that the injury was quite serious and there was some oozing of blood. The medical treatment is now undergoing,” added Rijiju.
Several Union Ministers and BJP MPs including Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Pralhad Joshi meet Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput at RML Hospital. They are admitted here after sustaining injuries during jostling with INDIA Alliance MPs.