Ugly scenes could’ve taken place had BJP MPs been allowed to confront oppn members: Rijiju

NEW DELHI: Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said “very ugly scenes” could have taken place had the BJP MPs been allowed to confront the Congress members on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi was supposed to reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in the Lok Sabha.

Commenting on the video that showed opposition women MPs coming to the treasury benches on February 4, Rijiju asked if anyone could justify the behaviour of the opposition members.

He said the direction from the BJP leadership was very clear that members belonging to the ruling alliance must maintain the dignity of the House and no MP of the ruling party should get into physical confrontation with the “rude opposition MPs”.

“The Congress party is proud of the most degrading behaviour by their MPs. If we had not stopped all the BJP MPs and allowed the women MPs to confront the Congress MPs, it would have led to very ugly scenes. We have very high consideration to protect the dignity and sanctity of Parliament,” he told reporters here.

The parliamentary affairs minister accused the opposition MPs of disrupting proceedings in an unprecedented manner and claimed that the BJP and NDA MPs were very angry because of the behaviour of their Congress counterparts. “The Congress MPs crossed the treasury benches and even reached the prime minister’s seat. The Congress has shown no respect for the dignity of the House.

“The fact is, they are celebrating on their social media accounts, claiming that women MPs scared the prime minister. This is utterly shameful,” he said. Rijiju said the BJP women MPs have submitted a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against the behaviour of the Congress members.

He said the Congress MPs even crossed the bench where the prime minister sits and went inside a few rows of the treasury benches and almost laid siege on the entire area.

“We had to control the BJP and NDA MPs. The BJP women MPs were very agitated at this behaviour of the Congress MPs.

“We stopped our MPs from physical confrontation. After that, these opposition MPs went to the speaker’s chamber and threatened the speaker. The BJP women MPs have submitted a petition. Let us see how the speaker acts and what steps he takes,” he said. The BJP’s women MPs, in a letter, have urged the Lok Sabha speaker to take the strongest possible action against the opposition MPs who have committed “heinous acts” like moving deep inside treasury benches, climbing the table and laying a siege on the prime minister’s seat.

The Lok Sabha has been witnessing disruptions since February 2, after Rahul Gandhi was disallowed by the chair from quoting from

an article.