Ugly scenes could have taken place in Lok Sabha: Rijiju

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju strongly criticizes the disruptive behavior of opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha, accusing them of disrespecting parliamentary norms and creating a potentially volatile situation during the Prime Minister's address.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said 'very ugly scenes' could have taken place had the Bharatiya Janata Party MPs not been stopped and the party's women MPs been allowed to confront the Congress members who had come to the treasury benches on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi was supposed to reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in the Lok Sabha.

Commenting on the video that showed opposition women MPs coming to the treasury benches on February 4, Rijiju asked who could justify the behaviour of the opposition members. He said the direction from the BJP leadership was very clear that members belonging to the ruling alliance must maintain the dignity of the House and no MP of the ruling party should get into physical confrontation with the "rude opposition MPs".

"The Congress party is proud of the most degrading behaviour by their MPs. If we had not stopped all the BJP MPs and allowed the women MPs to confront the Congress MPs, it would have led to very ugly scenes. We have very high consideration to protect the dignity and sanctity of Parliament," he told reporters in New Delhi.

The parliamentary affairs minister accused the opposition MPs of disrupting proceedings in an unprecedented manner and claimed that the BJP and Natoinal Democratic Alliance MPs were very angry because of the behaviour of their Congress counterparts.

"The Congress MPs crossed the treasury benches and even reached the prime minister's seat. The Congress has shown no respect for the dignity of the House.

"The fact is, they are celebrating on their social media accounts, claiming that women MPs scared the prime minister. This is utterly shameful," he said.

Rijiju said the BJP women MPs have submitted a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against the behaviour of the Congress members.

He said the Congress MPs even crossed the bench where the prime minister sits and went inside a few rows of the treasury benches and almost laid siege on the entire area.

"We had to control the BJP and NDA MPs. The BJP women MPs were very agitated at this behaviour of the Congress MPs.

"We stopped our MPs from physical confrontation. After that, these opposition MPs went to the speaker's chamber and threatened the speaker. The BJP women MPs have submitted a petition. Let us see how the speaker acts and what steps he takes," he said.

The BJP's women MPs, in a letter, have urged the Lok Sabha speaker to take the strongest possible action against the opposition MPs who have committed 'heinous acts' like moving deep inside treasury benches, climbing the table and laying a siege on the prime minister's seat.

Motion of Thanks passed without PM's speech

The Lok Sabha has been witnessing disruptions since February 2, after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was disallowed by the chair from quoting from an article based on excerpts of former Army chief General M M Naravane's 'unpublished memoir', which has references to the India-China conflict of 2020.

On February 4, Prime Minister Modi could not reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks due to opposition protests.

In an unprecedented move, the Motion of Thanks was passed on February 5 without the customary speech by the prime minister.

The speaker read out the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address, and it was passed by a voice vote amid sloganeering by opposition members.

Birla said he received concrete information that many Congress MPs could carry out an "unexpected act" by reaching the spot where PM Modi sits and, therefore, he asked him not to come to the House to deliver his address.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra refuted this.

Eight opposition members were suspended for the remainder of the Budget session for unruly behaviour in the House.