Never refer to anyone's caste, religion in House, else will take action: LS Speaker tells members
New Delhi (PTI): Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday warned members against referring to anyone's caste and religion in the House after a Congress MP alleged that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made certain remarks about his proficiency in Hindi because he belonged to a particular community.
Taking serious exception to the word used by Congress member A R Reddy to refer to his own social category during the Question Hour, the Speaker pointed out that people have not elected the members to Lok Sabha on the basis of their caste and religion.
No one in the House should ever use such words, the Speaker warned, adding, "Otherwise, I will have to take action against such a member."
Birla also took serious exception to the Congress member asking the Speaker not to "interrupt" him when he was asking a question.
Birla asked the Congress leader in the House, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, to make his party members understand that they should never make such comments about the Speaker. "You are the Leader of the House. Make members understand that they should never comment on the Speaker in the future 'that you (Speaker) cannot interrupt'," Birla said.
The issue appeared as Reddy began asking a question on the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's earlier remark when he was the chief minister of Gujarat that the rupee was in the ICU (intensive care unit).
As the Speaker objected to his comment and directed him to limit himself to asking the question, Reddy said, "Sir, you cannot interrupt."
Birla warned Reddy against making such comments against the Speaker and then allowed him to ask his question.
Responding to Reddy's question, the finance minister said she would reply in "weak Hindi" to the question asked by the Congress member in "weak Hindi".
The Congress member, while referring to Modi's remarks on the value of the rupee against the dollar in the past, should have also referred to the economic indicators of that time, she said.
"Economy was certainly in the ICU then. India was kept in fragile five," she said.
India is the fastest growing economy today despite the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, she asserted. "This is a matter of pride. But they are making fun of it," she said. "It's sad that they talk such things out of jealousy when our economy is doing well," she added.
The finance minister asserted that the Indian rupee has been strong against "every currency".
"And, that is proved and I can read the records," she added.
The US dollar is getting "stronger and stronger" due to "the policy adopted by the US Fed", the finance minister said.
In the last couple of weeks, the foreign reserves have gone up because of the flow of FDIs and FIIs, she said. "The fact remains that the reserves are going up. That's why, at this time, talks about foreign exchange, rupee depreciation, reserves coming down or investors running away are actually not proven by data," she added.
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Kejriwal resorting to 'vendetta politics', says BJP after MP Sandeep Pathak booked
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Saturday accused Aam Aadmi Party's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal of vendetta politics after Punjab Police booked Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak, who recently defected to the BJP.
In an X post, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla claimed that Kejriwal is misusing the Punjab Police to settle political scores, and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has become a party to it.
"Two FIRs have been filed against Sandeep Pathak, who until recently was in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary (organisation). What is baffling is the shameless, brazen vendetta politics being pursued by Arvind Kejriwal, with Bhagwant Mann complicit in it," Poonawalla said.
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"It is clear this has been done out of vendetta politics by Kejriwal, who is extremely vengeful and vindictive, and misuses the Punjab Police to pursue such political vendetta," he alleged.
Questioning the timing of the FIRs, Poonawalla said, "If these cases existed from the beginning, why were FIRs not filed earlier? If he was corrupt, why was he kept in the party for so long, especially when he was the general secretary (organisation)? Has any new material surfaced in the last few days, or has the alleged corruption occurred only now?"
He alleged that Kejriwal has an "old habit" of targeting political opponents and dissenters.
"We have seen how he has used the police against rivals, including Congress leaders. This is his old habit," Poonawalla said, referring to the withdrawal of Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh's security.
Poonawalla claimed that several leaders who had left AAP over the years, including Yogendra Yadav, Mayank Gandhi, Ashish Khetan, Ashutosh and Alka Lamba, were "hounded".
He accused the party of failing to introspect.
"Instead of introspecting on how they have changed -- from Anna to Lalu, from Lokpal to corruption -- they are indulging in vendetta politics, trying to victimise people using the strong arm of the law. This reflects an Emergency-like mindset and a dictatorial, Hitlerian mindset," he said.
According to sources, two FIRs have been lodged against Pathak under non-bailable sections.
No further details about the FIRs have been disclosed yet.
On April 24, the AAP suffered a jolt when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs quit, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal's party has strayed from its principles, values and core morals.
Of the seven MPs -- who were Pathak, Raghav Chadha, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Rajendra Gupta, Vikramjit Sahney and Swati Maliwal -- six were from Punjab.
Later, Rajya Sabha Chairman C P Radhakrishnan officially accepted their merger with the BJP, reducing AAP's strength in the Upper House to three.
