Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday accused the Congress and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for being incorrigible and creating the ruckus outside the House. In an interview with ANI, Rijiju expressed doubt about Rahul Gandhi’s willingness to change his outlook, stating that he doesn’t think that the LoP is capable of improvement.
“I have asked for an apology from the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi for insulting the Constitution, for damaging the legacy of BR Ambedkar and for causing injury to the MPs for many things. But I don’t think Rahul Gandhi is corrigible. He is not going to improve in his outlook in a positive manner,” he said. The Parliamentary affairs Minister said that it was Rahul Gandhi who had instructed party members to act in a certain manner that resulted in the chaos.
“If you go through the entire proceedings of the winter session of the Parliament, the main problem lies with the Congress party. If you see the conduct of the Congress party, it is the Leader of the Opposition who has instructed his people to act in a particular manner which resulted in the ugly ruckus in the House,” Rijiju said.
Rijiju urged the Congress Party to respect the democratic principles of the nation, emphasising that the Congress party, being a family-run party, should not impose its “non-democratic” values on the country or other parties. “My only appeal to the Congress party is to be democratic, if Congress cannot be democratic because Congress is a family-run party, don’t impose it on the nation, don’t impose it on other parties because we are all democratic people. We belong to a Democratic party. We believe in democracy,” he said.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister expressed his disappointment with the Congress party’s behaviour during the recent session, stating that they should prevail upon Rahul Gandhi to be more responsible. “We want to run the House as per the rules and regulations as part of the conventions. But the way the Congress party started behaving during this session I was very perturbed. Good people in the Congress party should prevail upon Rahul Gandhi to be more responsible,” Rijiju said.
Speaking on the Adani issue, he said that they had already decided the time of every bill and business of the House, but the Congress disrupted the session citing a sudden shift in focus to a US-registered case. “The issue is very clear. We appealed to all that the House should function well. We had already decided the time of every bill and business of the House, but suddenly the Congress came with placards and slogans written on the t-shirts over a case that was registered in the US,” Rijiju said.
The Union Minister further called for a collective effort to run the House, emphasizing that the government is open to discussions and has appealed to opposition parties to join in.
“We are very open to all the discussions we have already asked and appealed to the opposition parties to join and run the house because it is the collective effort. The government puts up the bills and business and the timeline and everything to run the House. But the cooperation of the opposition parties is necessary. Congress parties should realize that the people of India have voted for the members to perform in the Parliament not to display their physical strength and cause injury to other MPs. Good sense should prevail to Congress party,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Police registered an FIR against Rahul Gandhi, in connection to a scuffle that took place in Parliament. The tensions had erupted when members of the opposition and the ruling parties held parallel protests.
During the protests, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that he was pushed, and two BJP members were injured during the incident. Multiple Congress leaders have condemned the FIR against Gandhi, calling it a diversionary tactic from Shah’s comments. The winter session of the Parliament concluded on Friday. Both Houses were adjourned sine die after uproarious scenes.
