New Delhi, May 06: Uproarious scenes over BJP leader Ananth Kumar’s unparliamentary remarks against RJD chief Lalu Prasad in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday derailed the much- hyped discussion on the inclusion of caste in the 2011 Census.
Kumar, who initiated the discussion on the Census issue, deviated from the subject to make a political point. In his bid to project the BJP as a “ nationalist” party, Kumar made a remark insinuating that Lalu and others were “ Gaddar” ( traitors) touching many a raw nerves.
The word Gaddar was declared as unparliamentary on June 5, 1998, according to Parliament records.
The incident led to uproarious scenes and two adjournments in the post- lunch session, the second one at 4.55 pm for the day.
Despite demands from all secular parties, including the Congress, the BJP leader refused to apologise leading to a logjam.
The spat between the saffron camp and others, gave Lalu an opportunity to regain his popularity among the minority communities.
Lalu accused Kumar of propagating the BJP’s agenda by repeatedly talking of Pakistan and Bangladesh and ignoring the issue of backwards in the Census.
An agitated Kumar replied saying he would raise the issue suggested by Lalu but would first take up the issue related to national security.
When Lalu continued to object to Kumar raising the problem of illegal Bangaladeshi migrants, he asked the RJD chief “ are you with India or with Pakistan?” JDU leader and BJP ally Sharad Yadav backed Lalu asking Kumar to withdraw his comments and said the use of words like “ traitor” was not proper.
Some leaders of the Mandal parties such as the Janata Dal ( United), the RJD and the Samajwadi Party, who were keen on the discussion, saw Kumar’s remarks as a conspiracy to torpedo the discussion as both the Congress and the BJP are against caste- based census.
Though the Congress and the cabinet are divided on whether or not to endorse enumeration based on castes, a senior OBC leader of the Janata Dal ( United) said “ both these brahminical parties have a vested interest against caste- based Census”. Sources said Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee, parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj held two rounds of meetings with Speaker Meira Kumar to find a way out on Thursday to resume the discussion.
Later, the Yadav trio ( Lalu, Mulayam and Sharad) met the Speaker. But the BJP stuck to its stand. “ I will neither apologise nor withdraw my comments,” Kumar told reporters.
Both Swaraj and Kumar maintained that the latter had not used these terms against Lalu and that there was a misunderstanding.
“ One should understand the context in which Kumar mentioned them. The gaddar word per se is unparliamentary but not in this context,” Swaraj said.
The BJP, meanwhile, has declared it would hold a demonstration outside Parliament against the government’s misuse of the CBI. The party will sit on a dharna in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue against the government using CBI in disproportionate assets cases against politicians.
—Agencies