A day after the Centre on Thursday said any MP trying to mislead Parliament will not get away easily and the “rules will get them”, a war of words between the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress escalated. This comes after the Congress wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP MP Anurag Thakur made “factually incorrect, inaccurate and misleading statements” in the Lok Sabha and sought appropriate action in the matter.
The BJP has already submitted a notice against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha over alleged inaccuracies in his speech. Congress Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore has written to Speaker Birla, requesting that provisions of direction 115(1) be invoked over the statements made by Modi and Thakur.
“Nobody can expect to escape. There is no special privilege for anyone just because he comes from a privileged family. If anybody wants to misuse the position in the House to mislead the House, he will not easily get away. Rule will get them,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said.
Rijiju was in fact referring to a notice submitted in the Lok Sabha by BJP member Bansuri Swaraj urging the Speaker to take cognisance of her notice against certain inaccuracies in Rahul’s speech on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address.
“When the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha kept on lying on many things, including facts and figures, a notice was put to the Speaker and we have requested the Speaker to take appropriate action. We are waiting for the action,” Rijiju said in response to questions on the issue.
The Minister said rules apply equally to everyone as no member is above the Chair in the House.
In his letter to Speaker, Tagore flagged that Prime Minister Modi in his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address had said the Congress made a “false promise” of `8,500 per month to women, when the party’s promise was conditional to victory and Government formation.
He also challenged Modi’s claim that the Congress vote share has gone down in 16 States in which it had contested alone. “This is factually incorrect. The Congress vote share increased in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Telangana etc.,” Tagore was quoted as saying in the letter.
He also termed as “grossly misleading” Modi’s remarks that “no bullet proof jackets [were provided] for the Army during the Congress’ time”. “There was a shortage of jackets, not that jackets were not there. Even police had bullet proof jackets like in Mumbai attacks,” Tagore said.
He also challenged the Prime Minister over the claim that the Congress didn’t give fighter jets to the Army. “We had Jaguar, Mig 29, SU- 30, Mirage 2000,” the letter read. Tagore also pointed out alleged inaccuracies in Thakur’s July 1 speech in the Lok Sabha.
The Congress MP said Thakur claimed that the Army was not given arms and fighter jets when the party ruled the country.
“We had Jaguar, Mig 29, SU- 30, Mirage 2000....We had nuclear bombs, missiles like Agni, Prithvi, Aakash, Nag, Trishul and later Brahmos,” he said.
Tagore also dubbed as “factually incorrect” Thakur’s remarks that Prime Minister Modi has not taken a single holiday and asked which category of leave is taken for election campaigns.
After Rahul’s speech on Monday on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address, Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and Rijiju accused the Congress leader of making “untruthful” claims about a host of issues, including the Agnipath scheme and the compensation paid to locals in Ayodhya.
Under Direction 115 of the Speaker, a member wishing to point out any mistake or inaccuracy in a statement made by a Minister or any other member can, before referring to the matter in the House, write to the Speaker pointing out the particulars of the mistake or the inaccuracy and seek permission to raise the issue.
The member may place before the Speaker such evidence that she or he has in support of the allegation. The Speaker can bring the matter to the notice of the minister or the member concerned to ascertain the factual position.
