New Delhi : BJP members caused uproar in Rajya Sabha on Friday over Home Minister P Chidambaram's remark about Saffron Terrorism, but the party found itself isolated on the issue inside the House.
Left and other opposition parties joined hands with Congress to target the main opposition.
When the House re-assembled at Zero Hour after two adjournments on the same issue, Brinda Karat (CPI-M) contested Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley's remark that he represents a large section of the House in speaking against Chidambaram's views about saffron terror.
"He is certainly not (representing the whole House)," she said adding that Jaitley could have spoken on behalf of his party.
A large section of the House is concerned that such elements are being promoted by those who do not believe in basic secular views of the country, Karat said adding, "They (BJP) should have condemned such terror in the name of Hindutva."
This provoked protests from BJP members, who said saffron colour is also part of the national flag.
Satyavrat Chaturvedi (Cong) said his party disagreed with Jaitley's views that there was a legitimate grievance among a large section of the House on the use of the expression by the Home Minister.
D Raja (CPI) said right wing extremism posed a great threat to the country.
Pacifying the members, Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan said that the Leader of the Opposition did not say anything unparliamentary and a member has a right to disassociate from what someone has said.
As the uproar continued for 20 minutes, Parliamentary Affairs Minister P K Bansal said the session has been extended by two more days to transact important legislative business. He also requested the Chair to take up bills before the Special Mentions listed for the day.
The House saw two adjournments during Question Hour over Chidambaram's statement on rise in saffron terrorism.
As soon as the House met for the day, Manohar Joshi (Shiv Sena) raised the issue of the Home Minister's statement at the conference of Directors General and Inspectors General of Police here on Wednesday.
"There cannot be Bhagwa (saffron) terrorism," he said demanding that Chidambaram should give names of people connected with terror when making such statements.
He found support in BJP members who shouted slogans like "Hinduo ka apman nahi chalega" (insult to Hindus will not be tolerated).
Chairman Hamid Ansari said no one was being heard with so many people speaking simultaneously and asked the members to allow Question Hour to proceed and called Jaitley to speak on the issue.
But Jaitley could not speak as members in the ruling benches and Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan countered him.
Paswan made a reference to RSS' association with terrorism, leading to BJP members rushing into the well shouting slogans like "RSS ka apman nahi chalega (insult to RSS will not be tolerated)." As uproar continued, the Chairman adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
When the House reassembled, Jaitley said there was a legitimate grievance among a large section of the House on the use of the expression by the Home Minister.
The country had faced militancy in Punjab, Naxal violence, Kashmir problem and other forms of terrorism but they were never associated with any community or religion, he said adding the Home Minister should be advised to desist from linking communities with terrorism.
Paswan said Chidambaram had made the statement as a responsible minister of the government and saffron terrorism should be dealt with firmly, triggering protests from BJP members. PTI
