Congress walks out of LS over church attacks

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu accused the Congress of communal politics. He said law and order was a state subject and the Centre could not simply get in to every issue.

The Congress, led by Sonia Gandhi, staged a walkout over communal incidents after members of opposition parties and the ruling BJP traded charges during zero hour in the Lok Sabha.

Congress, Trinamool, CPM and AIADMK members cited the vandalism in a church in Haryana and controversial statements of a VHP functionary and BJP national executive member Subramanian Swamy. However, there was a sudden split in their ranks as the Congress and the CPM attacked the Trinamool regime in West Bengal, while the BJP supplemented their charge.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had to get up many times to keep proceedings on track. At one stage, she managed to move on to other issues and the Congress protest seemed to fizzle out, but Sonia, who had arrived in the House in the meanwhile, infused fresh life into the party ranks. She could be seen giving instructions to floor leader Mallikarjun Kharge and at the same time directing her party members to go into the well. The Congress members who trooped into the well thereafter shouted slogans: “Dharm ki rajniti nahin chalegi” and “Pradhan mantri kahan gaye”. BJP members countered them: “Rahul Gandhi kahan gaye.” Kharge spoke briefly and announced the walkout.

“Why are these things happening despite the Prime Minister’s assurance in Vigyan Bhawan?” Kharge said while referring to the speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a Christian function. He asked the government to explain why did the country currently have an atmosphere of religious intolerance.”Why isn’t there a statement forthcoming from the Government?” he asked.

While Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress attacked Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar over his remarks about the Hisar church vandalisation and the statement of Swamy, his party colleague Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury brought up the rape of a nun in West Bengal. He was promptly challenged by Kalyan Mukherjee of the Trinamool Congress. Mohammad Salim of the CPI(M) termed the incident “shameful” and demanded that the “whole House condemn it.” S S Ahluwalia of the BJP, thereupon, got up to ask if there could be anything “more shameful” than the rape of a 71-year-old nun. He also targeted West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

P Venugopal of the AIADMK hit out at Swamy. He said, “Recently, a turncoat leader who wants to please the leadership of the ruling party has made certain observations… It has created social tensions in the social media… It has created tension not only in the media but also within the party itself.”

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu accused the Congress of communal politics. He said law and order was a state subject and the Centre could not simply get in to every issue. The government, he said, condemned the incidents that had taken place in Haryana and West Bengal. Regarding Swamy’s reported comment that mosques are not a religious places and could be demolished, Naidu said, “We fully disagree with such statements.”

Source:: Indian Express