The Lokpal selection committee headed by the Prime Minister has as its members the Lok Sabha Speaker, Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House, the Chief Justice of India or a judge of the apex court nominated by him, and an eminent jurist who could be nominated by the President or any other member.
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Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), however, alleged that both CPI(M) and BJP seemed to be in connivance and decided not to allow discussion on intolerance to take place. “If a home minister makes such comments, he has no right to be on his post”, Rajnath said, adding that members of the house and people from the minority community know that he can not make such remarks.
Rudy, however, insisted that Salim should withdraw his words.
“A Motion of Notice given under rule 193 by P. Karunakaran (CPM) and K.C. Venugopal (Congress) in this regard has been listed in the business of the house for Monday”, the parliamentary affairs ministry said in a statement.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the member should withdraw the comments till their authenticity was ascertained.
After Rajnath’s denial, Salim immediately said that he was reading out the comment from a newsmagazine and that the Union Minister should send legal notice to the publication for quoting him wrongly.
The Speaker told the member that she was keeping his remarks out of records till she examined them. To press his point, he referred to returning of awards by writers, artist, film-makers etc.
Making religion as shield against injustice is not a sustainable proposition, he said. “This is also intolerance”. “It is not Satyameya Jayate but Asatyameya Jayete…It is not Ashimsa Parmo Dharma but Himsha Parmo Dharma”, he alleged. The CPI(M) member also said that neither the Home Minister nor the government ever denied the report.
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He asked why was the Prime Minister silent over the issue. He had said the government is particularly aware of the opposition’s concerns over some unfortunate incidents, including Dadri incident and killing of noted writer M M Kalburgi. He observed “we must differentiate between tolerant Hinduism and intolerant Hindutva”.
