NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has referred the complaints lodged by several MPs on the issue involving BJP member Ramesh Bidhuri’s use of objectionable words against BSP’s Danish Ali to the Privileges Committee, sources said on Thursday. While Ali and several other opposition MPs, including Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and DMK’s Kanimozhi, wrote to the Speaker seeking action against Bidhuri, some BJP parliamentarians like Nishikant Dubey said the BSP member “incited” the South Delhi MP when he was speaking in the House and urged the Chair to look into this as well.
Sources said Birla has sent all these complaints to the Privileges Committee headed by BJP MP Sunil Kumar Singh. Bidhuri had made certain derogatory remarks, later expunged from records, targeted at BSP member Danish Ali on September 22 when he was speaking in the Lok Sabha during a discussion on the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who was present in the House, expressed his regret at the ruling party MP’s conduct.
As opposition parties rallied around Ali after a video of Bidhuri’s remarks went viral triggering an outrage, the Lok Sabha Speaker took “serious note” and warned him of “strict action” if such behaviour is repeated in the future. The BJP also issued him a show-cause notice. Ali wrote to the Speaker, seeking an enquiry by the Privileges Committee, describing Bidhuri’s comments as “hate speech”.
Almost all opposition parties also wrote to Birla, seeking action against him. However, a few BJP MPs, including Dubey, asserted that Ali incited Bidhuri with highly objectionable remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While Dubey condemned Bidhuri’s conduct, he urged the Speaker to look into Ali’s behaviour as well. Other BJP MPs echoed the view.
In a post on X on Thursday, Dubey thanked the Speaker for referring the matter to the committee. “It was possible because the BJP has a majority in Lok Sabha,” he said, as he cited several previous incidents to assert that no committee was formed to probe these issues and nor was anyone punished. In this context, Dubey alleged that the RJD-JD(U)-Congress members were engaged in a fight involving shoes and microphones in 2006, Sonia Gandhi was involved in an incident in 2012 besides the commotion and injuries to parliamentarians in 2014 during the creation of Telangana as a separate state.
