Cornered over VK Singh, Modi leaves LS in a huff

After some 40 minutes of uproar in the Lower House, during which Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s repeated requests to the protesting MPs to calm down, Modi left the House.

The Opposition MPs said they wanted Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh removed for making “derogatory comments” against Dalits. The trouble began soon after the house met for question hour as opposition members assembled near the Speaker’s chair shouting slogans against Singh. “VK Singh should resign!” they shouted. Mahajan tried to pacify them as Modi and Union ministers - Sushma Swaraj and Najma Heptullah - looked on helplessly from the front rows of the treasury benches. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu also tried to pacify the agitated members, saying the minister had already clarified the issue and there was no point stretching it further. As the question hour got over amid the din, the speaker again requested the opposition to let the house function but the protesting MPs instead walked out.

Meanwhile, ruckus also followed in the Rajya Sabha as members of the Congress forced three adjournments, protesting the statements of Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal disputing the version of former minister Kumari Selja that she was asked about her caste in a Gujarat temple. The Congress members trooped into the well raising slogans, forcing three adjournments - the first time for 10 minutes, then till noon and thereafter again till 2 pm, alleging that the government’s statements disputing Selja’s remarks were “misleading”.

As soon as the House met and took up the Zero Hour, Leader of the House Arun Jaitley referred to the issue and said that Selja had, in fact, said very “complimentary words” during her visit to the Dwarka temple in February 2013. To this, Selja said she was not referring to the main Dwarka temple, but ‘Bet Dwarka’. Congress MPs were on their feet and so were some from the treasury benches, as Selja said the ministers should have “some grace”. As arguments ensued, Goyal chipped in to say that Congress was trying to create “manufactured problems” and “manufactured discrimination”. His comment further agitated Congress leaders who, led by Selja, rushed to the well.