Ruckus in Lok Sabha over Rahul Gandhi's remark on Hinduism; ruling front demands apology

NEW DELHI: Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said that BJP and RSS, which spread fear, hatred and falsehood, have no right to be the spokesmen of Hindutva. There was uproar in the Lok Sabha as Rahul attacked the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi by displaying the symbols of various religions, including a photo of Lord Shiva.

The ruling front accused Rahul's speech of being anti-Hindu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at Rahul Gandhi and said that calling "the entire Hindu community violent is a very serious matter". Prime Minister Narendra Modi rose twice to reply to the Opposition Leader. This was the first time Modi intervened during someone else's speech in the Lok Sabha. Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Shivraj Singh and Bhupendra Yadav also intervened during Rahul's speech.

Speaker Om Birla objected to Rahul Gandhi's action of displaying pictures of various religions by saying, "Rules don't allow the display of placards."

Participating in the debate on the Motion Of Thanks on the President's Address, Rahul also used issues such as the NEET controversy, Agniveer, Manipur, farmers' agitation etc. to attack the government.

Rahul Gandhi raised the image of Lord Shiva saying that it is the power to fight fear. "The trishul placed behind Lord Shiva's back does not symbolise violence, but non-violence. We defended the truth and fought the BJP with non-violence. Abhayamudra is the symbol of Congress...The Abhayamudra is the gesture of fearlessness, is the gesture of reassurance and safety, which dispels fear and accords divine protection and bliss in Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and other Indian religions...All our great men have spoken about non-violence and finishing fear...But, those who call themselves Hindu only talk about violence, hatred, untruth," the Congress leader said.

Hitting back at Rahul Gandhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah pointed out the Emergency and 1984 sikh riots and said that Rahul Gandhi has no right to talk about non-violence. He also urged that Rahul should apologise to the Hindu community.