Ugly scenes unfolded in Parliament on Thursday after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress accused each other of assault and shoving, and filed contrasting police complaints in what marked an unparalleled deterioration of decorum and ratcheted up tensions between the government and the Opposition.
The ruling party alleged that Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi shoved and hurt at least one lawmaker while injuring a second even as the Congress refuted the allegations and said BJP legislators blocked Gandhi’s way and pushed Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, injuring him in the knee.
The controversy erupted near the steps of Parliament’s Makar Dwar, an entrance and exit reserved for lawmakers, when members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) were holding concurrent protests over the legacy of constitutionalist BR Ambedkar. The BJP was accusing earlier Congress governments of insulting India’s first law minister as the INDIA bloc members were demanding the resignation of Union home minister Amit Shah over his remarks on Ambedkar earlier this week. The issue had jammed both houses of Parliament a day ago.
As the two protests came face to face on Thursday morning, pandemonium broke out. The BJP alleged two of its lawmakers – Farrukhabad MP Mukesh Rajput and Balasore MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi – sustained injuries when Gandhi shoved them while making his way inside Parliament. Both were admitted at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to them over the phone.
Separately, a woman lawmaker from the BJP in the Rajya Sabha, S Phangnon Konyak, said she was made “uncomfortable” by Gandhi’s behaviour, even as Congress member Hibi Eden called the allegation entirely fabricated.
“Decorum has been torn apart. Democracy has been shredded and sullied. There is no other example like that of the hooliganism of Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party. Such conduct was never seen in the Parliamentary history of India,” Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.
But the Congress refuted this version of events, saying three lawmakers from the ruling party manhandled Gandhi and refused to give way to him. The party said that BJP members attacked Kharge and pushed him, forcing him to lose his balance and hurt both his knees. They also accused the BJP of drumming up fake charges against the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
“I was trying to enter Parliament and the BJP MPs were stopping me, pushing me and threatening me,” Gandhi told reporters, also alleging that the BJP was attempting to divert attention from the allegations against Shah over his comments on Ambedkar.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said Rahul Gandhi was being targeted. “To save Amit Shah’s skin they have started this conspiracy that ‘bhaiya [brother]’ has pushed someone,” she said.
Both sides lodged police complaints, and complained to the respective Chairs in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha against each other.
Former Union minister Anurag Thakur said BJP members filed a complaint at Parliament Street police station and demanded a first information report under sections 109 (attempt to murder), 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), 117 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 125 (act of endangering life or personal safety of others), 131 (use of criminal force), 351 (criminal intimidation) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
The Congress lodged a complaint signed by members Digvijaya Singh and Rajiv Shukla, among others, who said that they were staging a protest at Parliament when BJP members assaulted Mallikarjun Kharge, Neeraj Dangi and others.
“The BJP MPs exerted physical force on Shri Kharge by pushing him to the ground. This has inflicted bodily injuries to Shri Kharge, Neeraj Dangi and others… The individuals involved in committing offences against Shri Kharge are identifiable from the video evidence being shared along with the present complaint,” they wrote in the complaint.
The Congress asked the Delhi Police to register a FIR on charges of causing hurt, using criminal force, assault, among other sections.
“The complaints have been received and are being legally examined,” said a senior police officer aware of the matter.
The controversy came against the backdrop of a raging row over Shah’s comments on Ambedkar earlier this week. During his reply to the debate marking 75 years of the Constitution on Tuesday, Shah had attacked the Congress and alleged the opposition party repeatedly disrespected Ambedkar. “It has become a fashion to say Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar…If they had taken God’s name so many times, they would have secured a place in heaven for seven lifetimes…” he said.
The INDIA bloc parties shared clips of the first part of his statement, demanding Shah’s resignation and an apology for what they alleged was an insult to the framer of the Constitution. They held protests across the country and Kharge warned that his party would ignite a national movement on the issue.
The BJP has already dismissed the Congress’s allegations. Modi accused the Congress of spreading malicious lies to hide its misdeeds of several years and its insult towards Ambedkar. Shah held a press conference accusing the Congress of “distorting” his statement made in the Rajya Sabha to create an “illusion” that he insulted Ambedkar.
The simmering political tensions spilled onto the premises of Parliament as unprecedented scenes were witnessed on Thursday morning.
At 10 am, a group of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs with placards assembled near the Makar Dwar to protest against the Congress. A little distance away from the Makar Dwar, where a statue of Ambedkar stood obscured by the winter fog, Opposition MPs gathered to attack Shah.
By 10.40am, the premises were reverberating with contrasting slogans when the two opponents came face to face, triggering some jostling and pushing. What transpired in the next 10 minutes remained unclear with both parties alleging the other had instigated the attack.
At 10.50am, Sarangi, a piece of gauge held to his left temple, was wheeled into an ambulance and driven to the RML hospital. Rajput, who also complained of injuries, was taken to the same hospital.
BJP member Nishikant Dubey accused Gandhi publicly of pushing Sarangi. “Are you not ashamed Rahul, you are resorting to rowdy behaviour (’gundagardi’). You pushed an old man,” a furious Dubey told Gandhi.
“He pushed me,” Gandhi countered Dubey, walking off after having a cursory look at Sarangi.
“Rahul Gandhi pushed an MP, who fell on me and I got injured,” Sarangi told reporters.
But INDIA bloc members defended Gandhi. “I know Rahul Gandhi. He will not push anybody; he is not the kind of person to be nasty or rude to anyone…no one, leave alone Parliamentarian, he cannot even push someone walking on the road,” Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said.
Both Houses later witnessed massive uproar amid “Jai Bhim” chants from both sides and were adjourned without any discussions.
Congress MPs later met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and submitted a complaint against BJP members. Konyak said in the Rajya Sabha that Gandhi came in “very close proximity” to her during a “peaceful protest” and shouted at her. He made her uncomfortable, she said, accusing him of conduct unbecoming of his position as the Leader of Opposition.
Dhankar said that he received a communication from Konyak on the incident and she also met him in his chamber. “I am looking into it. She was literally in tears,” he said in the House.
Later in the day, Congress MP Hibi Eden wrote to Birla and refuted the allegations. “I was present with the Hon’ble Leader of Opposition during the entire course of the event and at no point of time Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji had ever come into proximity with the person who made the allegations. The allegation of Shri Rahul Gandhi being insensitive to the rights of women and scheduled Tribes is yet another bogus claim and at no point Rahul Gandhi ji said, acted or expressed any statement, act or word that proved anathemic to the complainant,” he said in the letter.
Hemang Joshi who filed a complaint against Gandhi said, “When I saw Gandhi walking away… I called him to come and see how Sarangi was injured…but he appeared nonchalant and said Sarangi had pushed him instead…how can he say such things.”
