The war of words between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress intensified Friday with the BJP sharpening its attack on Rahul Gandhi by accusing him of assaulting “India’s sovereignty” on foreign soil, and the Congress retaliating by seeking a breach of privilege notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks directed against the Gandhi family. Amid the acrimonious exchanges, which stalled Parliament for the fifth consecutive day, a new row erupted when Sansad TV coverage of Lok Sabha proceedings went mute. There was no audio link for all but 1.20 minutes of the 21 minutes that the House ran before proceedings were adjourned until Monday by Speaker Om Birla. While the Lok Sabha Secretariat maintained that the audio link was unavailable because of a “technical glitch” at the official broadcaster’s end, the Congress said it was another move to “silence voices in Parliament” and called it a “fatal blow to democracy”. Before the House met for the day, BJP president J P Nadda, in a video statement, said, “It’s unfortunate that the Congress party is indulging in anti-national activities. After being repeatedly rejected by the nation, Rahul Gandhi has now become a permanent part of this anti-nationalist toolkit.” At 11 am, the Lok Sabha proceedings opened to the now familiar sight and sound of MPs on their feet, raising slogans for and against Rahul who sat quietly as Congress members trooped to the Well in his defence. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi was also present in the House. Speaker Birla called for the Question Hour, in which Congress MP Manish Tewari’s name was listed first. At 11.01 am, as Tewari began speaking amid slogans of “Rahul Gandhi maafi maango” (Rahul Gandhi apologise), Sansad TV entered the mute mode. Tewari’s question was whether the Supreme Court Collegium had cited reports by the R&AW regarding the sexuality of an advocate who was being considered for appointment as a judge. Over the next 20 minutes, the broadcaster telecast visuals from the House, and the audio returned intermittently, accounting for a total of 1.21 minutes. The audio was briefly restored as Tewari urged the Speaker to bring order to the House so that he could speak. The audio would return again at 19.10 minutes for five seconds when the Opposition was raising slogans against the government and alleging links with the Adani Group. At the same time, Congress MPs were heard shouting “Rahulji ko bolne do” (let Rahul speak). There was no let-up as BJP members continued to demand that Gandhi apologise for his remarks in the UK on the state of Indian democracy. Union Ministers including Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, S Jaishankar, Jitendra Singh, Kiren Rjiju, Smriti Irani, Anurag Thakur and Arjun Munda were present in the House as the ruckus continued. At 19.59 minutes, the audio returned. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi could be heard telling Birla, “We are listening to you. The Opposition will take its seats, you please let Rahulji speak.” Birla, who gestured to the members a few times to return to their seats, said, “I request you to let the House function. You have not been sent to raise slogans. The people of the country are watching. If the House comes to order, I will let everyone speak. But if this situation remains and you remain standing, I will not allow you to speak. House needs to be in order.” At 21.10 minutes, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings to reconvene Monday. The second half of the Budget session, which commenced March 13, has been a washout so far with daily disruptions stalling business of the House. After the adjournment, the Congress announced it had approached Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar with a notice of question of privilege against the Prime Minister under Rule 188 of the Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Upper House. Considered a bid to counter the BJP offensive against Rahul, the move was initiated by Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal. The Congress counter hinges on the PM’s comments made during his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address in February on the “family” not using the “Nehru” surname. Writing to Dhankhar, Venugopal called Modi’s remarks as “preposterous”. He said that the PM’s remarks, which were also condemned by the Congress then, “are not only disgraceful but also insulting and defamatory vis-a-vis the members of the Nehru family particularly Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi who are members of the Lok Sabha”. “I seek privilege proceedings against Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India for having made derogatory, insulting, distasteful and defamatory remarks against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi which has amounted to breach of their privileges and also contempt of the House,” said Venugopal, a member of Rajya Sabha. In his speech on February 9, Modi said, “I find it very surprising that we may at times miss out mentioning the name of (Jawaharlal) Nehruji, and we will also correct ourselves because he was the country’s first Prime Minister. But I do not understand why none of them use the Nehru surname? What is the shame in using the Nehru surname? Such a great personality is not acceptable to you, to the family?”.
