Opposition guns for Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri over Lok Sabha remarks

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 23

Demands for the suspension of Delhi BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri for his anti-minority comments made in the Lok Sabha during the special session of Parliament grew louder on Saturday with opposition MPs petitioning Speaker Om Birla for strict action that would serve as a deterrent for others.

Congress chief whip in the Lok Sabha and member of the panel of House chairpersons K Suresh, in a letter to Birla, today sought Bidhuri’s suspension and immediate reference of the matter to the privileges committee of the House.

“I was conducting the affairs of the Lok Sabha on September 21 as per the roster and Ramesh Bidhuri started using vulgar expletives, communal remarks and vile comments against Danish Ali of the BSP. The fact that an MP is being attacked with the worst form of abuses for being a Muslim is a clear sign of the dangers posed to our nation’s communal harmony and fundamental rights,” Suresh wrote to Birla.

Suresh said he immediately ordered expunging of Bidhuri’s remarks but was “utterly shocked that an MP could make such derogatory remarks and threaten him with assault outside the Parliament precincts”. The Congress leader said the incident had brought loss of dignity to the House and was “a shocking aberration which must never be tolerated”.

“The very house where the Constitution is preserved and fundamental rights guarded has become a place of religious hatred,” said Suresh. The Speaker had let Bidhuri off with a warning yesterday and the BJP had issued a show-cause notice to him seeking a reply in 15 days.

The BJP today hit back with Haryana in-charge Biplab Deb posting on X a video of Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan using foul language against PM Narendra Modi.

Delhi MP got into trouble in 2019 too

• BJP’s South Delhi MP Ramesh Bidhuri (62) has been an LS member for two terms and was elected to the LS for the first time in May 2014.
• Prior to that, he was an MLA in the Delhi Assembly from 2003 to May 2014. Bidhuri, a member of the AIIMS governing body, has in the past also remained mired in controversies.
• He allegedly used foul language against Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in 2019 leading to Raghav Chadha filing a complaint against him. Bidhuri has RSS roots and was an active ABVP member earlier.

#BJP #Lok Sabha #Om Birla