BJP notice to MP Ramesh Bidhuri for 'anti-minority talk' in Lok Sabha

New Delhi, September 22

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BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s anti-minority remarks made in the Lok Sabha on Thursday led to a massive political storm today with the Congress-led Opposition demanding his immediate suspension from the House and the BJP issuing him a show-cause notice seeking a reply in 15 days. Bidhuri had used offensive remarks for BSP MP Danish Ali in the Lower House during a debate on Chandrayaan-3.

Ali today said he would mull quitting the Lok Sabha unless the strictest possible action was taken against Bidhuri. “This is shocking. I have written to the Lok Sabha Speaker. I hope action will be taken. This is nothing less than hate speech, that too on the floor of the House. Hate speeches were being made outside Parliament but now these are being delivered inside,” Ali said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is learnt to have summoned Bidhuri and given him a dressing down today, a day after Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Deputy Leader of the Lok Sabha, apologised on Bidhuri’s behalf in the House.

The Congress, however, rejected the BJP’s apology or the Speaker’s rap for Bidhuri.

“It is an absolute shame what Bidhuri has said. Rajnath Singh’s apology is simply not acceptable. It is a half-hearted apology, it was an afterthought. What Bidhuri has said is an insult to Parliament and makes a mockery of what the Prime Minister keeps repeating, ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas, Sabka Vishvaas, Sabka Prayas’,” AICC general secretary and Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha Jairam Ramesh said today demanding immediate suspension of the BJP’s South Delhi MP, whose video went viral today.

The Opposition also questioned former Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, BJP’s Chandni Chowk MP, for grinning while Bidhuri was talking. Vardhan has dissociated with Bidhuri’s remarks.

The Lok Sabha earlier today expunged all objectionable records from Bidhuri’s speech.