The Lok Sabha on Wednesday started with heated arguments between the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition, Congress, with the latter reminded the statement of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee' for the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi following the communal riots in the state.
While speaking in the Parliament, the leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge invoked Vajpayee's 'raj dharma' remark following the 2002 Gujarat riots, where more than 1,000 people were killed and thousands injured.
Kharge in his speech said, "I will quote Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji. He said in Ahmedabad that India's image has been tarnished overseas due to the communal riots. I didn't say this. Atal Bihari ji said this. With what face will I go abroad? Raj dharma has not been followed."
BJP says Kharge quoted incomplete sentence
However, during his speech, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman opposed Kharge's remarks and claimed that Congress has used his speech to suit their convenience. According to Sitharaman, Kharge was quoted "an incomplete statement" from the former Prime Minister's remarks.
According to Finance Minister, Vajpayee's quote ended with "he (the then chief minister Narendra Modi) is following raj dharma". However, she did not give any evidence to prove her statement. Meanwhile, Goyal said Vajpayee agonised with communal riots during the Congress rule, be it in Maharashtra, Bhagalpur or in Gujarat.
RS Chairman refuses to accept newspaper report
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asked Kharge and Sitharaman to authenticate Vajpayee's quoted remark during the course of the day. Dhankhar said the Chair "deal will with the situation" if any of Vajpayee's comments was truncated to suit any side as he was a former prime minister, a Bharat Ratna and a great son of this country.
"Any observation made by him, if truncated... (and) if not given properly by this (ruling party) side or that (Opposition) side, it is the duty of the Chair to deal with the situation," he said. Kharge displayed a newspaper report quoting Vajpayee, but the Chairman refused to accept, saying, "Newspapers reports are no substitute for documentation. You have to authenticate what you said."
(With inputs from PTI)
