New Delhi: Treasury and opposition members nearly came to blows in Lok Sabha on Friday when Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan condemned in "no uncertain words" the "outlandish" remarks made by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
During Question Hour, when Gandhi asked a question related to establishment of medical colleges, Vardhan said before giving the answer, he would like to make a statement on the Congress leader's recent comment on the prime minister.
Vardhan said he "condemns in no uncertain words" the "outlandish" remarks of Gandhi. Speaker Om Birla asked the minister to stick to his answer. As Vardhan continued reading out the written statement, Congress MPs came to the Well strongly protesting against the minister's stand.
One of the Congress members from Tamil Nadu, Manickam Tagore, came to the treasury benches and attempted to aggressively reach Vardhan, who was sitting in the second row. Immediately, BJP member from Uttar Pradesh, Brij Bhushasn Sharan Singh held Tagore by his arm to prevent him from reaching the union minister.
Congress MP from Kerala Hibi Eden tried to intervene. Several MPs from both sides and union ministers, including Smriti Irani prevented them from coming to blows. The speaker immediately adjourned the House till 1 pm.
Birla later conducted separate meetings with Congress leaders and Union minister Pralhad Joshi following the incident. While Rahul Gandhi and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury were the Congress leaders who met Birla, Vardhan and Joshi also met the speaker. The house remained adjourned till 2pm.
Rahul Gandhi said the ruckus was an "orchestrated" attempt to prevent him from questioning the government. "The orchestrated ruckus in Parliament today was designed to prevent me from questioning the Govt. The youth of India can clearly see that the PM has no clue about how to tackle the unemployment crisis. To protect him, the BJP will keep disrupting Parliament, preventing debate," he said.
During a rally for the Delhi Assembly polls, the Congress leader had reportedly said that "youth would beat Modi with sticks over the lack of jobs". On Thursday the Prime Minister had taken a dig at Gandhi for his remarks, saying he would increase the number of Surya Namaskars (a yoga exercise) so that his back can bear the attack.
Tagore, Virudhunagar MP, later wrote to the Lok Sabha Speaker, saying a few BJP members had manhandled him. Naming Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, Tagore said the MP had threatened to kill him. Thakur requested the Speaker to check CCTV footage and take action against the accused.
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