Outlook magazine admitted to have “erroneously” attributed to Home Minister Rajnath Singh the remark that created a storm in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
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A fierce verbal engagement took place in Parliament yesterday during a debate on “rising intolerance”, over a controversial comment attributed to Home Minister Rajnath Singh by Left lawmaker Mohammad Salim.
While Congress member in the Lok Sabha KC Venugopal has given notice for a debate on the issue on Monday, party lawmaker Anand Sharma will press for a resolution in the Rajya Sabha this week.
When objected to, Salim said, “I was quoting from a magazine”. This statement went viral on social media and it was being wrongly claimed that the statement was made by noted Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen. I am giving you one: “please ask your ministers to think before they speak”.
When the house met at 3.15 pm, Salim said he was going by the rules and remarked he would have been happy if Rajnath Singh had become prime minister instead of Narendra Modi.
Lekhi described the artistes, filmmakers, writers and “so-called intellectuals” as “intellectual mercenaries” and said such people are not concerned about how they are tarnishing the country’s image and the relations between communities.
In his speech during which several opposition parties staged a walkout towards the end, Singh said the allegations that “intolerance” is increasing under the Narendra Modi government is unfounded.
The standoff was resolved after the fourth adjournment only after Salim’s comments, contested strongly by the ruling National Democratic Alliance, were expunged from the house proceedings.
Targeting Congress, Singh said the three biggest examples of intolerance in the country are – partition of India, Emergency imposed by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and 1984 anti-Sikhs riots. He added that the remarks were made at an internal meeting of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Salim, however, was backed by members of the opposition, including the Congress party, who said there was no reason to do so. “The Prime Minister should have spoken and government should have taken action against the fringe elements”.
The remark of Union Minister Gen VK Singh over the dalit killing in Haryana was also raised by Salim.
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Referring to elections for the members of the Constituent Assembly to frame the Constituion, she said that Ambedkar wanted to get elected from Maharashtra but Congress and some Hindu organisations were opposing him.
