Govt embarrassed as PM’s remark on Congress leader expunged from record
New Delhi, August 10: A comment made by PM Modi after NDA candidate Harivansh won the election for the post of Rajya Sabha deputy chairperson, was deleted from the house records, causing embarrassment for the government
In a rare and embarrassing development for the government, a portion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech has been deleted from the records in Parliament on Thursday, August 9.
Modi allegedly made “derogatory remarks” about Congress candidate BK Hariprasad in the Rajya Sabha after the NDA candidate Harivansh won the election for the post of deputy chairperson.
As per media reports, PM Modi in his speech while congratulating Harivansh, said that the election was between “two Haris” and he went on to take a swipe at Hariprasad, playing on his initials. The PM’s remark was seen as derogatory by some from the Opposition camp.
Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha raised the issue under Rule 238 and urged Rajya Sabha chairperson Venkaiah Naidu to expunge the remark. Jha said PM’s remarks were “derogatory in direction and intent.”
Immediately after this, Modi praised Hariprasad for doing his bit to protect the dignity of democracy in a lost battle.
As per media reports, PM Modi, in his speech while congratulating Harivansh, said that the election was between “two Haris” and he went on to take a swipe at Hariprasad playing on his initials. PM’s remark was seen as derogatory by some from the Opposition camp
While BJP leaders called it an example of Rajya Sabha chairman Naidu’s fairness and non-partisanship, the Congress said the prime minister’s words lowered the dignity of the house.
Remarks made by the prime minister are rarely expunged from the records.
In a similar incident which occurred in 2013, after a sharp exchange in Parliament between then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley, some words used by both of them were expunged.
Harivansh has defeated Hariprasad by securing 125 votes to 105 after the BJD offered its support to the JD(U) MP.
In his victory speech following the election, Harivansh said he would uphold the dignity of the Upper House and expressed hope that differences would be ironed out through constructive debate, consensus and guidance.
“Treading on rules and procedures framed by our Constitution makers, we can lead the country to greatness… there would be differences in debates, there would be different opinions… we can find a way,” said Harivansh in the Parliament.
Courtesy: www.nationalheraldindia.com
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
