Stormy start to intolerance debate; Salim, Rajnath engage in war of words

New Delhi, November 30

The debate on the issue of 'intolerance' got off to a stormy start in the Lok Sabha on Monday, with the House witnessing uproar after a CPI(M) member attributed certain Hindutva remarks to Home Minister Rajnath Singh who denied them outright and demanded his apology.

Mohammad Salim cited a news magazine, which quoted Singh as having made a "pro-Hindutva" remark after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister.

Singh vehemently denied it and said he was never hurt so much in his Parliamentary career as he was today.

"Mohd Salim levelled a serious allegation against me. He should say when and where I made such a statement or apologise .... A Home Minister who makes such a statement has no moral right to be the Home Minister. I speak after weighing every word... People know Rajnath Singh can never make such a statement," Singh said.

Quoting the magazine, Salim said Singh had made the remark at an internal meeting of the RSS.

When some BJP members questioned whether he was present when such a reported comment was made, the CPI(M) member said, "I don't have such misfortune to attend the RSS meeting."     

Members in the treasury benches, including Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy, demanded that Salim withdraw his remark till the Speaker Sumitra Mahajan takes a view by examining all sides, including authenticity of the report.

With both sides sticking to their guns and uproar prevailing in the House, the Speaker adjourned the Lok Sabha for an hour.

On his part, Salim insisted that he was not levelling any allegation nor wanted to cast any aspersion on Singh but was only quoting from a reputed weekly. The CPI(M) member also said that neither the Home Minister nor the government ever denied the report.

At the same time, Salim acknowledged that it was the Home Minister who was among the first from the government to speak against Dadri lynching incident.

He said the Speaker may not put his comments on record till she verifies it but declined to take them back.

B Mahtab (BJD) sided with the treasury benches and quoted the Rule book to say that an allegation against a minister or member cannot be made without giving prior notice.

Saugata Roy, whose party TMC is a bitter of CPI(M), however, batted for Salim by citing another rule.

Amid the uproar, Salim walked to the Lok Sabha Secretary General and authenticated the article containing Singh's alleged remarks.

When the BJP members demanded withdrawal of the remarks by Salim, he said he had only quoted from an article in a publication. In a way, the CPI(M) member said, he has helped the minister as the Intelligence Bureau and police should have told him about this earlier as the issue was dated November 16.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan told the member that she was keeping his remarks out of records till she examined them.

At this point, Rudy said it would be difficult to run the House till he withdraws his comments. Speaker also asked Salim to agree to this but he declined.  —PTI