india

Updated: Sep 08, 2020 15:28 IST

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday sought to block an effort by the Congress to corner the national coalition over controversial remarks made by its lawmaker Anantkumar Hegde with a denial and a counter-offensive.

Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi told the Lok Sabha that Hegde had denied making any critical comment about Mahatma Gandhi but had still been asked to express regret. Joshi was responding to a fierce attack on Hegde and the BJP by Congress leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Choudhury.

Hegde had provoked outrage by calling Mahatma Gandhi-led Indian freedom movement a “big drama” at an event on Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s political relevance in Bengaluru on Saturday.

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Hegde had said none of its “so-called leaders” were beaten by police and the entire independence movement was “staged with the consent and support of the British”.

He said the Mahatma Gandhi-led movement “was not a genuine fight but an adjustment”.

Some of the phrases used by Adhir Ranjan Choudhury in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday to describe the BJP and its lawmaker’s reported comments about Mahatma Gandhi were expunged because they were deemed to be unparliamentary. The crux of his point was to seek an apology for Hegde’s comment, insisting that he had “insulted and abused” the Father of the Nation who is revered not only in India but across the world.

The Congress and other opposition parties had taken on the ruling BJP-led coalition over the remarks earlier in the day too. The first round of protests had ended with Speaker Om Birla adjourning the proceedings for an hour. This was perhaps the first time in the 17th Lok Sabha that the Speaker adjourned the House without starting the Question Hour.

When Adhir Ranjan Choudhury finally had his say during the Zero Hour, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi recalled that all BJP lawmakers had, gone on a 150 km padyatra to mark the 150th birth centenary of Mahatma Gandhi. He said Hegde had clarified that he did not make the comment against the Mahatma.

“But we still asked him to express regret because we, the people of the Bharatiya Janata Party, are the real bhakts. We are the true followers of Mahatma Gandhi unlike the Congress members who are the followers of fake Gandhis like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi,” he said, leading to sharp protests by the Congress that walked out.

Hegde, a five-time lawmaker from Karnataka’s Uttara Kannada, is known for his controversial statements. In May, he deleted a series of tweets in which he appeared to support freedom of expression of those wanting to have a debate on Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse.

In December, Hegde embarrassed the BJP by claiming the rushed swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis as Maharashtra chief minister in November was a pre-planned move to ensure that funds worth ~40,000 crore were returned to the Centre. Fadnavis immediately denied the claim.

Hegde was booked for hate speech in 2016 after he said that as long as Islam exists, terrorism will exist.