Modi makes a rare intervention in Parliament, top leaders weigh in

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a battery of top ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, intervened while Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi made allegations at the government during a highly charged debate on the President’s speech in the Lok Sabha on Monday.

This was the first time that Modi intervened during any MP’s speech in the House during his tenure as Prime Minister from 2014 onwards.

The trigger for the PM standing up to make a point was Gandhi making a reference to Hindu god Shiva in an attempt to invoke his posture of peace and security, and trying to contrast it with “those who call themselves Hindus are 24 hours (engaged) in hatred, violence and untruth” in what was a reference to leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). This prompted Modi to get up for a rare intervention. “To say that the entire Hindu society is violent is a very serious issue,” he said, even as Gandhi argued that “Modi, BJP and RSS (Rashtriya Svayamsevak Singh) don’t represent the entire Hindu society”.

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The issue then snowballed into a major controversy, prompting a series of disruptions, even as Union home minister Amit Shah took serious exception and demanded an apology. “Whatever has been said can’t be concealed in the commotion. By saying that Hindus commit violence, lie, and spread hatred, Rahul Gandhi has insulted crores of Hindus. He should apologise for this.”

A little while later, Prime Minister made another intervention after Gandhi complained that the PM did not greet him or smile at time though defence minister Rajnath Singh did. Modi then got up and said: “Democracy and the Constitution have taught me that I need to take the Leader of Opposition seriously.” This comment was met by chuckles from the treasury benches.

Though Rajnath intervened to correct Gandhi on the Agniveer army recruitment issue, and agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan to interject on minimum support prices, home minister Shah was most vocal during Gandhi’s speech.

He demanded that Gandhi must authenticate all the claims he was making in the House -- including that Agniveers did not get the status of martyrs and were deprived of compensation or pension, or that the NEET exam. “I can understand, he is speaking for the first time. But how can he be allowed to overrule the rule book of the House? We need protection from this,” Shah said.

Shah also urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to review Gandhi’s speech. “He has said something. And here, ministers have given their version. I want his speech to be reviewed in the context.”

Environment minister Bhupender Yadav, too, frequently threw the rulebook at Gandhi to argue that the LoP was not adhering to the rules of the House.

Later, at the media briefing, Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Kiren Rijiju accused Rahul Gandhi of denigrating the position of the Leader of Opposition with his “extremely irresponsible” speech in the Lok Sabha, and of inflicting “grave insult” on the Hindus by allegedly linking them with violence and spreading untruths.