Rajnath Singh told the House that he had not been able to hear the entire speech by Ramesh Bidhuri, but had heard Opposition MPs say their feelings had been hurt by some of the comments. (PTI/File)
The records of the debate now public on the Lok Sabha website show Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stood up to promptly ask the chairperson to delete BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri’s objectionable comments and apologised to BSP MP Danish Ali
Soon after BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri made objectionable comments against BSP MP Danish Ali in the Lok Sabha on Thursday night, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh stood up to promptly ask the chairperson to delete Bidhuri’s comments from the records of the debate, and apologised to Danish Ali.
“Sir, you have shown greatness…” Benny Behanan, Congress MP from Chalakudy in Kerala, responded to Singh as he apologised.
The records of the debate are now public on the Lok Sabha website. The Chairperson, Kodikunnil Suresh, informed the Defence Minister that Bidhuri’s comments had already been deleted.
Rajnath Singh told the House that he had not been able to hear the entire speech by Bidhuri, but Opposition MPs were saying that their feelings had been hurt by some of the comments. “I would urge you to remove such statements from the records…if he has said something that has hurt their feelings, I express regret for the same.”
Many MPs sprung to Danish Ali’s defence. DMK MP DM Kathir Anand said Bidhuri “must apologise”, while party colleague Kanimozhi also tried to speak to back the demand. Congress MP S Jothimani stood up to say: “Sir, this is not done”. NK Premchandran, RSP MP from Kerala, said: “Sir, expunging it (Bidhuri’s comments) from the records is not enough.”
Danish Ali, meanwhile, kept trying to make his point, asking how Bidhuri could make such comments about him. “How dare he say this? He must apologise. What is this? How can he be allowed to speak like this? Whom is he calling a … (Expunged as ordered by the Chair)? Are there … (Expunged as ordered by the Chair) in this House? Can … (Expunged as ordered by the Chair) enter in this House?… He must apologise (sic),” the records of the debate now show.
Ali had raised a point of order to protest Bidhuri’s comments around 11pm.
The Speaker has since issued a stern warning to Bidhuri and the BJP has issued him a show-cause notice.
The Opposition is, however, demanding the South Delhi MP’s suspension from Parliament as well as the BJP. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary KC Venugopal visited the BSP leader and expressed solidarity with him. Later in a post on X (formerly Twitter), Gandhi posted pictures with Ali and said, “Nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan (shop for spreading love in market of hate).”
A day after Bidhuri’s remarks, Ali described it as “hate speech” and demanded the suspension of the ruling party’s lawmaker from the House. “This is nothing less than hate speech. This is hate speech on the floor of the House. Hate speeches were being made outside Parliament but now hate speech has been delivered on the floor of the House by a BJP MP,” he said.
Asked what would he do if action was not taken against Bidhuri, Ali said: “I expect that the Speaker will take action on this. But if action is not taken, then with a heavy heart, I can consider quitting the membership of this House because people have not sent me to Parliament to listen to hate speeches.”
