New Delhi: The Congress on Monday demanded in Lok Sabha that Union Minister Anurag Thakur be booked for egging on participants at an election rally to raise an incendiary slogan that "traitors should be shot".
The opposition party alleged that "political masters at the top" are giving directions to ministers to make inflammatory speeches.
Participating in the discussion on Motion of Thanks on President's address, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that a BJP member is making remarks about shooting and terming Indian people as traitors.
"Book the minister" under relevant laws, he said without taking the minister's name. He said that if people can vote BJP in, they can also vote it out.
"They think that they can rule like dictators and make such speeches. It is unfortunate," he said. Gogoi said that for this government, the students and women who are protesting against the CAA are "our enemies.
But for me, they are my brothers and friends. They are telling about values of Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekanand". Referring to the JNU incident on January 5, Gogoi said people witnessed disturbing scenes in universities.
Students and professors at JNU were bleeding due to attack and police did not do anything, he said adding, "I am not questioning Delhi Police". Delhi Police, he said, is capable of managing
everything, but "what I feel is that political masters are dictating them and giving directions".
"In front of Delhi Police, a boy fired on the people," the Congress leader said adding "he must have been motivated by someone".
"I want to know who is pulling the trigger. It's not the minister or that boy," he added. "None of this will happen if there is no tacit appeal from political masters. This shows the attitude of these people... the minds of young people are being polluted," he said.
He also said that a member banned by Election Commission for campaigning in Delhi was allowed to speak first in the House and "that shows the BJP's attitude towards the Election Commission and Parliament".
BJP MP Parvesh Verma was barred by the Election Commission last week for four days for his controversial remarks made during an interview and at an election meeting in Delhi.
Gogoi said the government should talk about the real problems of poverty, unemployment, and inequality as these issues are not yet over. "The true Ravans are poverty, and inequality," he said.
He also criticised the Union Budget for 202-21 saying it does not provide anything to deal with these problems and revive private investments.
"You are full of rhetoric only," he said adding the prime minister meeting top 15 industrialists will not solve the problem of economy. "You have wasted first five years and you are going to
waste these five year also," Gogoi said.
"You may threaten us, or shoot us, but people will not be afraid," he said. He said that it was very unfortunate that members are absent when such an important discussion is going on in the
House.
Gogoi added that "I feel proud that Indian people are on the streets". Speaking during the discussion, T R Baalu (DMK) wondered if the President had gone through his speech before reading
it during the joint sitting of Parliament.
He said that Budget has not provided anything to boost investment in agri sector. On Citizenship Amendment Act, he asked the government about the compulsion under which they came up with this law.
"You want to discriminate among people," he alleged. Opposing the motion, Trinamool Congress' Mahua Moitra said the government is betraying the people who have voted for them.
"You have betrayed the tribal people in Gujarat on whose land you built a statue," she said. She dubbed the National Population Register (NPR), National Register of Citizens and the CAA as the "biggest betrayal" of people of India.
"People who voted for you in 2014 are horrified," she said adding, "Today, you put a person banned by Election Commission to speak in parliament". She also said that the state of economy is abysmal and the finance minister was fearful in giving the target for the real GDP.
"You have rubbished all economists, but your own former CEA appointed by you" is raising question marks on government data, she said.
P V Midhun Reddy (YSRCP) said that his party was opposed to the NRC and the NPR and the government should not do anything which creates a sense of insecurity among minorities.
He also demanded that the government honour all the commitments made by it at the time of division of Andhra Pradesh.
Vinayak Raut, member of former NDA constituent Shiv Sena, dared the BJP to give Bharat Ratna to Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar . He also wanted to know how many Indians have gone to Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370.
He also asked the government what was being done to generate employment and reduced poverty. Raut said that Shiv Sena is opposed to the NRC. BJD leader Pinaki Misra said that Odisha was not getting sufficient funds from the Centre to deal with recurring problems of cyclones and other natural calamities.
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