Rahul Gandhi has responded strongly to claims by a BJP MP – Pratap Chandra Sarangi – that he was inadvertently injured by the Congress MP during a scuffle outside Parliament’s Makar Dawar (gate) Thursday morning. Mr Gandhi told reporters it was, in fact, a group of BJP MPs who shoved him away and issued threats, and that they had also threatened Congress boss Mallikarjun Kharge.
“I was trying to go inside… but BJP MPs were trying to stop me; they pushed me away and threatened me. Yes (in response to a question about Mr Kharge) … that also happened. But we do not get affected by this jostling. This is Parliament and we have the right to go inside,” he said.
Mr Gandhi also told reporters, “This (the shoving) might be on your camera.”
The injured BJP MP, Mr Sarangi, said he fell and hurt his head after a third person (unidentified at this time) fell on him. Mr Sarangi said Mr Gandhi had pushed this person who then fell on him.
“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…” he told reporters from a wheelchair and with a medical professional holding a bandage to the side of his head.
#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
Visuals from outside Parliament then showed Mr Sarangi being taken to hospital in an ambulance.
All of this happened as a fresh round of protest and counterprotests – between the ruling party and a massed opposition – played out over Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks about Dr BR Ambedkar.
#WATCH | Delhi: MPs of INDIA Alliance climb the walls of Makar Dwar at the Parliament and protest with placards demanding an apology and resignation of Union Home Minister Amit Shah over his remarks on Babasaheb Ambedkar in Rajya Sabha. pic.twitter.com/Bd9UAEkMKX
— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2024
On Monday, in concluding remarks on a two-day debate on the Constitution, Mr Shah quipped, “It has become the fashion to say ‘Ambedkar, Ambedkar, Ambedkar…’ If they (the opposition) took God’s name so many times, they will get a place in heaven.”
The remark has triggered furious pushback from the opposition, with the Congress leading the charge
NDTV News-India-news