The issue of intolerance is set to reverberate in Lok Sabha on Monday with the Speaker accepting notices of CPI(M) member P Karunakaran and Congress MP K C Venugopal for a discussion on the matter. The two opposition members had given notices for a discussion on the issue under rule 193, which does not entail voting. The matter has been listed for Monday.
The opposition has been seeking a discussion on the issue of intolerance for quite some time. At the all-party meeting held on November 25 in the backdrop of actor Aamir Khan’s remarks on ‘growing intolerance’, opposition parties made a strong pitch for an early discussion on the issue, insisting that returning of awards by writers, artistes and filmmakers should not be taken lightly.
Assuring members on this count, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had said that the government was ready to discuss all issues including that of the “so-called intolerance” though it fell in the domain of states.
He had said, “The government is particularly aware of the opposition’s concerns over some unfortunate incidents that have happened in recent weeks including the Dadri incident and killing of M M Kalburgi. The government has condemned those incidents as they go against the traditional and highly cherished values of tolerance.”
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had also made it clear that his party was going to raise the issue of intolerance as what was happening in the country was “disturbing” and the Prime Minister is “silent”.
The government has been facing flak from different quarters on the issue of “growing intolerance” in the wake of the Dadri lynching, the beef row and incidents of communal violence.