The Congress on Wednesday said it plans to boycott Prime Minister Narendra Modi in both the houses of Parliament for rest of the Budget Session until he apologises for his "raincoat" barb against his predecessor Dr. Manmohan Singh, party sources said.
Hitting back at Modi, the party said that the words used by the PM were "extremely poor" in taste, were "unbecoming of a Prime Minister" and demanded that he apologise to the House. The party also dubbed Modi as "arrogant" and charged him with bringing the debate to "the lowest level".
Commenting on the remarks, Congress vice-president said that "today's events were shameful."
"When a Prime Minister reduces himself to ridiculing his predecessor-years his senior, he hurts the dignity of the parliament &the nation. He demeans his position and himself more than anyone else. Today's events were saddening and frankly; they were shameful," Rahul said in a series of tweets.
Accusing Modi of "arrogance", Congress leader Kapil Sibal, said that the Prime Minister has "insulted" the House with his remarks and he must apologise.
"This is an insult of the House...we have never seen such arrogance. The Prime Minister should think that there is a stature to the post he holds and he does not know what words should be used...We will not tolerate this. We condemn the Prime Minister's remarks. He should apologise to the House for this," he said.
"Modi chooses to speak when everyone else is done with and then makes unsubstantiated allegations. We cannot tolerate this. We will not let him speak until he apologises for his remarks," Sibal said while likening Modi's remarks to a "chieftain addressing a local crowd".
Sibal said the opposition party will not allow Modi to speak in Parliament unless he apologised.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Modi had said only Manmohan Singh knew the art of bathing while wearing a raincoat, prompting the Congress members, including Manmohan Singh, to walk out.
Former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the remarks were in "extremely poor taste and unbecoming of a Prime Minister".
"Within minutes of his speech, he attacked the former Prime Minister in the most unacceptable manner. He said Manmohan Singh occupied various positions and one must learn from him how to take a shower wearing a rain coat,” Chidambaram said.
"It was in extremely poor taste. It is unbecoming of a Prime Minister to use such language against a former PM. We are very very disappointed and angry (with) what the Prime Minister said. We expressed our protest by walking out (from the House)," he said.
The former Finance Minister said it was certainly unbecoming of anyone to say such "harsh and ugly" words against Singh.
Targeting Modi, senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said, "He is behaving in an arrogant and insulting manner against the opposition.
“He also insulted the former late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He has dragged the debate to the lowest level," he said.
Replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in the Rajya Sabha, Modi tore into Congress and took on Singh who had described demonetisation as "organised loot" and "legalised plunder", saying "the art of bathing in a bathroom with a raincoat on" is known only to the former Prime Minister as there is "no blot on him" despite "all the scams".
"There is a lot for us politicians to learn... so much happened but he (Manmohan) did not get a taint. Only doctor sahab (Manmohan Singh) knows the art of bathing (while) wearing a raincoat," Modi said.
This provoked an angry reaction from Congress members who staged a walkout in the midst of the reply by the Prime Minister.
"I have never seen a Prime Minister making such derogatory remarks about a former Prime Minister. The kind of words that he has used are unacceptable," said Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.
Congress leader Renuka Chowdhary was also scathing in her criticism.
"This is what the country is coming to that you have the Prime Minister coming to Parliament and not even giving respect to a former Prime Minister," she said.
"He can say what he wants to, we cannot stoop to that level. And that is why we walked out (of the Rajya Sabha). Our self-respect is intact, let the Prime Minister prove his," she added.
