New Delhi: Congress leader K.C. Venugopal on March 17 wrote to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, seeking privilege proceedings against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making ‘derogatory, distasteful and defamatory’ remarks against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament.
New Delhi: On March 17, Congress leader K.C. Venugopal wrote to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, seeking privilege proceedings against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making ‘derogatory, distasteful and defamatory’ remarks against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in the Parliament.
Mr Venugopal, in his letter to the Chairman, has cited the Prime Minister’s February 9 speech during the reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. Venugopal’s notice comes days after his party colleague Shaktisinh Gohil submitted a similar notice against Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal for raking up Rahul’s ‘democracy in danger’ remarks in London on the premise that allegations against a member of another House should not be made in the Upper House.
In response to the Congress accusing him of not mentioning Pandit Nehru in his speeches, Mr. Modi had noted that none of his descendants used the Nehru surname. While Mr. Modi had avoided specific mentions of the Adani-Hindenburg issue in his speech then, he had said said that the keechad (dirt) flung against him would actually help the kamal (lotus) to grow, referring to the BJP’s election symbol.
The notices also come against the backdrop of the breach of privilege proceedings against Rahul initiated by the BJP for his attack on Modi on Adani Group issue and its leaders’ latest assertion that the top Congress leader should apologise for his London remarks or Parliament would have to resort to extraordinary steps.
During his speech the Opposition had stormed the well of the House shouting slogans about Adani throughout.The Congress move is a clear attempt to counter BJP’s aggressive stance against Mr Gandhi for ‘democracy under threat’ remark that he made in London.
Venugopal said the remarks were made in a “mocking manner” and are “not only disgraceful but also insulting and defamatory” to the “members of the Nehru family”, particularly Sonia and Rahul, who are Lok Sabha MPs and former party presidents.The Parliament’s functioning continued to be disrupted on Friday with the ruling BJP unrelenting in its demand for an apology from Congress leader , whose remarks that democracy is under attack has drawn the BJP’s ire. “…
The very suggestion by the Prime Minister why they did not take Nehru as a surname is preposterous by its very nature. The Prime Minister knows very well that the surname of the father is not taken by the daughter. Despite knowing that, he deliberately mocked,” he said.Quoting ‘Practice and Procedure of Parliament’ by MN Kaul and L Shakdher, he said it is a breach of privilege and contempt of the House to make speeches reflecting on the character or proceedings of the House or its committees or any member of the House or for relating to his character or conduct as an MP.
Meanwhile, the Opposition has also refused to shift focus from calling for a Joint Parliamentary probe into the Adani Group controversy. On Thursday, several MPs from the Opposition organised a human chain in the Parliament premises.In the letter, he quoted Erskine May’s ‘Parliamentary Practice’ as saying that “disgraces given to the House by words spoken or by published writings reflecting the character or proceedings of the House in the past shall be regarded as the (House of) Commons and (House) of) is punished by both.
The House of) Lords operates on the principle that such abuse hinders the Houses in the performance of their functions, thereby reducing their honour.According to the letter, it also stated that “reflections on Members, not being named or otherwise indicating particular persons, are equivalent to reflections on the House”. The letter further states that in ‘parliamentary practice’, “speeches and writings which reflect the conduct of members as members have been treated in a manner consistent with impeaching them because of their behavior in Parliament”.
