Samal slams Cong over scuffle in Parliament

Bhubaneswar: Odisha unit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Manmohan Samal on Thursday condemned the incident of scuffle in Parliament in the national capital in which BJP MPs Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput sustained injuries. “We condemn such types of ‘goondaism’... this is a dark chapter in the history of Indian democracy. It was not expected from the Leader of the Opposition belonging to a responsible political party. Rahul Gandhi shows behavioural imbalance. All the 140 crore people of India are condemning this act,” the Odisha unit BJP chief said.

Samal also wished speedy recovery to the injured BJP leaders Sarangi and Rajput who have report-edly been undergoing treatment at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital. The Odisha BJP chief asserted that none has the right to injure such respectable members of Parliament. He alleged that the Congress party had never respected Ambedkar or any other leader, except ‘Gandhi Parivar’. Samal asserted that the BJP has always accorded deep respect to the Constitution. He alleged that the Con-gress party had always misused the Constitution.

A heated confrontation unfolded on the premises of Parliament on Thursday during a protest by Oppo-sition MPs alleging disrespect towards B R Ambedkar. The incident escalated and BJP MP Pratap Sa-rangi accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi of pushing an MP, causing a chain reaction that led Sarangi to fall and sustain a head injury.

Sarangi claimed, “Rahul Gandhi pushed an MP, and he collided with me. I fell and hit my head, which is bleeding. The push was initiated by Rahul Gandhi.” The protest was held against Union Home Min-ister Amit Shah’s recent remarks in the Rajya Sabha, which the Opposition claimed to be disrespectful towards B R Ambedkar.

Meanwhile, BJP MPs staged a counter-protest, accusing Congress of disrespecting the Constitution and B R Ambedkar. Led by BJP MP Anurag Thakur, they raised slogans such as “Congress party maafi maango, Ambedkar ka apmaan nahi sahega Hindustan (Congress must apologise, India will not tol-erate the insult to Ambedkar).”

Denying claims of deliberately pushing the BJP leader, Rahul Gandhi told reporters: “It might be rec-orded in the cameras. The BJP MPs were stopping us from entering Parliament. They blocked and threatened us. This is our right to protest.”