In more than 77 years of Independence of India, rarely did the Indian state come across such an incident where the leader of opposition has manhandled and injured a sitting MP of the Lok Sabha. This ought to be one of the dark blots at the face of Indian Democracy.
Amid the slugfest between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress regarding the Ambedkar insult row where both the parties accuse each other of insulting Dr. BR Ambedkar and his legacy, former Minister and BJP MP from Balasore, Pratap Chandra Sarangi got seriously injured. When media asked him about the injury, BJP MP accused opposition leader Rahul Gandhi of pushing an MP who fell over him, injuring him in the way. Pratap Chandra Sarangi recounted, “I was standing near the stairs when Rahul Gandhi came and pushed an MP who then fell on me”
#WATCH | Delhi | BJP MP Pratap Chandra Sarangi says, “Rahul Gandhi pushed an MP who fell on me after which I fell down…I was standing near the stairs when Rahul Gandhi came and pushed an MP who then fell on me…” pic.twitter.com/xhn2XOvYt4
— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2024
The Balasore MP was rushed to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital through ambulance. BJP Ministers went to meet the injured minister. The Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan lashed out at Rahul Gandhi, saying, “Such blatant disregard for decorum has never been seen before. Rahul Gandhi’s behavior is sheer hooliganism. What does he hope to achieve with such conduct?”
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan marked Rahul Gandhi’s behaviour like a feudal lord, He said “Rahul Gandhi is behaving like a feudal lord. This nation is not his family’s property.” Similarly, Kiren Rijiju remarked, “Parliament is a temple of democracy, not a wrestling ring. Rahul Gandhi’s display of physical force is unacceptable and shameful.”
Rahul Gandhi, addressing the media, denied any deliberate wrongdoing and accused the BJP MPs of pushing him and not allowing him to enter the Parliament. He stated “This might be on your camera. I was trying to enter through the Parliament gate, but BJP MPs tried to block us, push us, and threaten us. This led to the jostling.”
While the opposition parties had already lowered the bar with their vile political discourse around identity markers, dividing the country by casteist queries like ‘Tumhari Caste kya hai’, ‘desh jal uthega’ over n number of falsehoods, the latest incident where the leader went on to allegedly cause physical hurt marks another low in the History of Indian polity.
