arvind kejriwal narendra modi

Behind Attempts to Corner Kejriwal for Renovation Costs Is Narendra Modi’s Desperation

The prime minister is spending almost 11 times as much on meeting the same need as the Delhi chief minister. Is that because his job is 11 times as onerous as a chief minister’s? Or is it because Modi’s ego is considerably larger than Kejriwal’s?

Narendra Modi must be in seventh heaven. His bete noire, potentially his nemesis, Arvind Kejriwal has been found to have feet of clay. For years now, Kejriwal has tirelessly contrasted his own simple lifestyle, and his party’s serving of people, with Modi’s endless preoccupation with himself, and exclusive concern for the industrial health of the super rich, such as the Ambanis, the Adanis and the Tatas.

Ten days ago, Kejriwal had used the one weapon against Modi that a dictator has no defence against: satire and ridicule. Charlie Chaplin, the greatest comedian of the 20th century, had used this against Adolf Hitler in his immortal 1939 film, The Great Dictator. Kejriwal had done this ten days ago with a 20 minute story he narrated in the Vidhan Sabha, titled “Chauthi Pass Raja”. This was having the same effect in India as The Great Dictator had had in the US: videos of the story have garnered millions of views. The release of data to show that the CM’s house his government is building costs Rs 45 crore was Modi’s counterattack!

But will it succeed in denting Kejriwal’s hold on the people of Delhi? The commercial media’s gleeful acceptance of the estimate as gross extravagance by a man whose ego has finally outstripped his unremarkable physical stature, was only to be expected in a country where investigative journalism has been strangled to death. But surely, some newspaper needed to contrast that story with the cost of Modi’s own pet project, the Central Vista Redevelopment project, which is Rs 13,450 crore, i.e $1.7 billion.

This redevelopment is to spread over 20,866 square metres and have a total built up area of 64,500 square metres. Within it the prime minister’s house complex will cover 36,268 sq ft (more than 4,000 square metres) and cost Rs 467 crore. This is more than ten times the amount estimated for the Delhi chief minister’s proposed housing complex.

The prime minister’s new office and residence will be on a site covering 15 acres. It will contain ten four-storey buildings that will accommodate not only his residence, but the living quarters of his Special Protection Group and his private office complex.

This is no different from the present arrangement in (the former) Race Course road where these functions are spread over 4 buildings set in lawns that cover approximately 16 acres. This arrangement has comfortably served five previous prime ministers from Rajiv Gandhi to Manmohan Singh.

Despite that, Modi’s reasons for the complex closer to Parliament House and the prime minister’s official secretariat are understandable, because of the rapidly increasing traffic on New Delhi roads, the worsening traffic jams being caused by it, and therefore the increasing vulnerability of any cavalcade to a terrorist attack.

Construction for the Central Vista project. Photo: Oishika Neogi

What necessitated reconstruction of CM residence?

But these same considerations, multiplied many times, were what necessitated the reconstruction of the chief minister’s residence. For Kejriwal had categorically refused to move into Raj Nivas, the residence of the British chief administrators of Delhi, and later of chief ministers after Delhi became a state, pronouncing it too grand and too large for him and had, instead, chosen to stay at what used to be the Delhi Vidhan Sabha speaker’s residence at 6, Flagstaff road in old Delhi.

All those who met Kejriwal at home in those days will remember that 6, Flagstaff Road is a single floor house with a small front lobby that Kejriwal had turned into an informal meeting room, a central living and dining room, and three bedrooms spread around it, one of which was occupied by his father and a computer. That was all!

The entire house reeked of dilapidation. Considering that it had been built in 1942, barely a decade after the British shifted their capital from Calcutta to Delhi, this was hardly surprising. So, having lived in a similar house in New Delhi, in the 1950s and 1960s, I was not surprised to learn that the ceilings of all the three bedrooms had begun to leak.

Those who are accusing Kejriwal of having been corrupted by power today, need to ask themselves why this surfaced only in 2020, seven years after AAP first came to power in Delhi? The short answer is that when he chose 6, Flagstaff Road over Raj Nivas, Kejriwal did not realise that the chief minister’s house needed to serve also as his main office.

This had been understood by the British as far back as in 1906, when they built the first office-cum-residence Raj Nivas on what was then the Ludlow Castle Road, and is now the Raj Nivas Marg.

After Independence, with an ever-expanding city and increasing state regulation of civic life, this complex became too small by 1988. Both wings of Raj Nivas where therefore completely redesigned and expanded into a residence-cum-secretariat at great expense in 1995.

This background is necessary to understand why the conversion of 6, Flagstaff road from being simply one chief minister’s choice of a home, into the official residence of all future chief ministers of the state is costing Rs 45 crore. Kejriwal had chosen it as an unpretentious home to live in. But a chief minister’s home can never be private. On the contrary it has, necessarily to be a mini-secretariat that can receive information and transmit decisions instantly, as and when the chief minister needs it to do so.

In 2015, when Kejriwal chose to live there, it was a home without an office. In the next five years this lacuna was filled by the ad hoc addition of temporary rooms constructed between the gate and the entrance to the house. These sufficed till 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown was imposed. The shut down of the entire Delhi secretariat did not lead to shut down of work. On the contrary, with the need to open COVID wards, arrange medication, oxygen and ambulances, and look after tens of thousands of migrant workers suddenly rendered destitute, 6, Flagstaff road suddenly became the pulsing nerve centre of government.

I cannot even begin to imagine how his administration coped with the crisis from the ramshackle bunch of huts I had seen at Flagstaff road. But that experience, without a doubt, taught Kejriwal a hard lesson: he had to choose between looking and acting like a leader of the poor ever in search of votes, and a leader who wished to deliver service to the poor and save their lives. It is not therefore surprising that the first order for refurbishings worth Rs 7.09 crore, was issued on September 09, 2020.

Once it was decided that 6, Flagstaff Road would be the permanent official residence of the chief minister of Delhi, another need arose that had been largely overlooked in Kejriwal’s first years. His was for quarters for his personal security staff. It was this need that had caused the present official prime minister’s residence to expand from 5, Race Course road as his home and 7, Race Course Road as his personal office, to include 3 and 9 Race Course Road as well.

It is also the need explicitly stated for the PM’s residential complex Modi is setting up on the edge of the Central Vista lawns. Modi is therefore spending almost 11 times as much on meeting the same need as Kejriwal. Is that because the prime minster’s job is 11 times as onerous as a chief minister’s? Or is it because Modi’s ego is considerably larger than Kejriwal’s?

Prem Shankar Jha is a veteran journalist.

Neither ‘Pro-Hindu’ nor ‘Anti-Hindu’, Kejriwal is a Monetary Genius in Modi’s Mould

The last time India witnessed a crazy proposal about money was in 2016, when Modi decided to withdraw 80% of the currency notes in circulation.

In the race to the bottom that now seems to define Indian politics, a new depth has been plumbed by the Aam Aadmi Party’s Arvind Kejriwal with his utterly cynical and bizarre assertion that the Indian economy can be made to prosper if the photos of Laxmi and Ganesh are added to currency notes.

Since this irrational claim, presented in the form of a proposal, is calculated to annoy and embarrass the Bharatiya Janata Party which believes it alone has the right to flaunt ‘Hindu’ credentials’, BJP spokespersons have responded by telling people that Kejriwal is actually ‘anti-Hindu’. The evidence cited to back up this accusation does not speak well of the BJP. They say he sought to curb air pollution during Diwali by banning the use of firecrackers. Or that one of his ministers repeated the vows Dr Ambedkar took when he converted to Buddhism – the same Ambedkar that Narendra Modi claims to be a disciple of. The BJP has also accused AAP of being a “poor carbon copy of the original”, an accusation that does the original no credit.

Meanwhile, India’s Hindus, most of whom have seen their personal economic fortunes plummet despite the multitude of gods and goddesses adorning their walls, should be forgiven for wondering who on earth they should trust the keys of the country with.

The last time India witnessed a crazy proposal about money was in 2016, when Modi decided withdrawing 80% of the currency notes in circulation (that too without having new notes available as replenishment) would spur the Indian economy by ending black money and curbing corruption. Like Kejriwal, he too was hoping the blind faith of people would help him hoodwink them.

Just as Kejriwal’s followers insist in seeing virtue in his mad idea, Modi’s bhakts desperately clutched at the fiction of the new Rs 2000 notes carrying embedded microchips which could communicate with satellites and reveal to the authorities any unauthorised horde that is not in a bank – even if buried 200 feet underground. The end result was that the economy’s growth prospects got buried, while corruption never ended.

In introductory macroeconomics, we are taught that money is a store of value, a medium of transaction and a unit of account. Kejriwal has added a fourth function which central banks around the world may want to study: it can be a medium of benediction too, provided the Hindu goddess of wealth and Hinduism’s divine remover of obstacles are duly portrayed.

Of course, monetary economists are bound to ask whether the quantum of benediction will be a function of the total money supply (presumably the more photos of Lakshmi and Ganesh in circulation, the greater the blessings which will be showered), in which case the Friedman-Schwarz Quantity Theory of Money, MV = PY, can be replaced with MV = ॐPY, where ॐ is the ‘blessings multiplier’ that boosts nominal GDP beyond what the money supply and velocity of circulation predict.

It would also be interesting to see how the Kejriwal Theory of Money will handle business cycles, where the economy goes into recession. Would the blessings multiplier be boosted above its normal value by divine intervention so that the Reserve Bank of India and the Department of Expenditure can sit back as Lakshmi and Ganesha work their magic and the economy revives?

Kejriwal cites the presence of Ganesha on the (now withdrawn) 20,000 Indonesian rupiah note to argue that if a country where Hindus are barely 2% of the population can seek the elephant god’s blessings, why can’t India.

An image of the 20,000 Indonesian rupiah note, now withdrawn from circulation and replaced by a new series of designs. Photo: Twitter/@iam_Jitu

The last time I heard an Indian politician praise Indonesia’s money was when a BJP leader I know cited Ganesha and Garuda (the name of the country’s national airline) to me, to argue that Indonesia’s Muslims may have converted to Islam but they have ‘not forgotten their Hindu culture’ – unlike India’s Muslims, he added quickly.

Perhaps Kejriwal met the same leader or has friends in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (because the Indonesia obsession is a shakha staple) but had he looked into the actual effect of Ganesha’s blessings on the Indonesian economy, he may be disappointed. The fact is that there has been no Ganesha on any Indonesian currency note since 2008 and yet the Indonesians are twice as rich as the people of India. Perhaps Ganesha’s blessings operate in the monetary sphere long after he’s gone. Or perhaps they do not operate at all.

The BJP says Kejriwal’s proposal is a ploy to fool Hindus before the upcoming municipal elections in Delhi. They may be right. He is a “poor carbon copy” but at least the BJP is tacitly admitting that the original Hindutva party uses Hinduism as a ploy at election time. And does a much better job at it.

‘Print Images of Ganesha, Lakshmi on Currency to Improve Economy’: Kejriwal Tells PM Modi

‘If there is a photo of Lakshmi-Ganesha on our currency (notes), our country will prosper. I will write to (the) prime minister in a day or two on this,’ the Aam Aadmi Party chief said.

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, October 26, appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to print images of Hindu deities Ganesha and Lakshmi on currency notes.

During a media briefing, he said the photos of Ganesha and Lakshmi could be printed on fresh currency notes. He added that the new notes could have a picture of Mahatma Gandhi on one side and of the two deities on the other.

“Despite making efforts, sometimes our efforts do not fructify if gods and goddesses are not blessing us. I appeal to PM (Modi) to have photos of Lord Ganesha and Goddess Laxmi on our currency (notes).

“If there is a photo of Lakshmi-Ganesha on our currency (notes), our country will prosper. I will write to (the) prime minister in a day or two on this,” he said.

He cited the example of Indonesia, a Muslim nation, that has a picture of Ganesha on its currency note.

“When Indonesia can, why can’t we? The photos can be printed on fresh (currency) notes,” he said.

Lamenting the fact that the Indian economy was not in a good shape, he said the country was passing through a delicate situation with the rupee depreciating against the US dollar.

“We all want India to be rich and every family here to be prosperous. We have to open schools and hospitals on a large scale,” he added.

Kejriwal also said the Aam Aadmi Party was fully prepared for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi polls and stressed that the people of the national capital would reject the BJP.

He also challenged the BJP to cite one good work it had done in Gujarat, where it has run a government for the last 27 years.

“All demonic powers aligned against us,” Kejriwal said on the upcoming polls in Gujarat.

The Delhi chief minister also lauded the efforts of Delhi residents for the decline in the city’s pollution levels.

“We are still not satisfied. We want to make Delhi the city with the cleanest air,” he said.

(PTI)

In Latest Tussle, AAP Shows Only It Can Pose a Political Challenge to BJP

While other opposition parties have only tried to consolidate their traditional vote bases, Arvind Kejriwal’s party is trying to break into the BJP’s vote share.

New Delhi: With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) firing yet another salvo by accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of luring its legislators with bribes running into crores, it is clear that the Arvind Kejriwal-led political party has refused to buckle under pressure.

Both the parties have often been at loggerheads, usually over frequent tussles between the Delhi government and the Centre-controlled Lieutenant-General. However, the fresh round of altercation since Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia’s residence was raided by the CBI has assumed greater political proportions than before.

AAP, which has often sidestepped criticising the BJP in moments when the saffron party earned widespread wrath from other opposition parties, appears to have opened a full-scale battlefront to corner the ruling party. It did not take the CBI raids on Sisodia lying down. In fact, it used the raids as an opportunity to launch one attack after another on the BJP.

First, its leaders attempted to reach out to the common people with the message that the BJP by targeting Sisodia, the education minister, and Satyendar Jain, the health minister, was only attempting to cripple the two most-important welfare measures that the Kejriwal government has initiated.

When Raghav Chaddha said that the CBI will only find “pencils and geometry boxes” at Sisodia’s home, or when Sanjay Singh or Kejriwal said that BJP was trying to buy AAP MLAs, they meant that the the CBI action will only amount to strip the capital’s people from the so-called “Delhi development model” that primarily hinges on providing free healthcare and education to the poor.

In fact, chief minister Kejriwal and his acolytes had already begun the offensive weeks ago when he was refused permission by the Union government to visit a Singapore government conclave to talk about the AAP’s development model. Its messaging was that an envious BJP doesn’t want to let a welfare-oriented opposition party claim any sort of political space.

Irrespective of whether there is merit to the CBI’s probe against Sisodia in the excise policy case, the AAP has spun the move as an anti-democratic attack by the BJP on a pro-poor government, the likely fallout of which will be a continuing battle between the two parties until the upcoming Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. Both are states where AAP is eyeing a shot at power and working hard on the ground to at least finish as a respectable opposition party.

It has been fighting the BJP at every level, so much so that a good number of Congress workers on the ground are drifting towards it. AAP’s fighting spirit is drawing a large section of political workers outside the fold of the BJP, even as most other opposition parties have largely been complacent. Quite contrary to the allegation of being “BJP’s B-team” that AAP has had to face from many corners, it has shown a special perceptiveness to effectively counter the saffron party.

Its posturing is that of an anti-ideological and incorruptible force, driven by the immediate needs of people. It has carefully, but controversially, refrained from being drawn into traditional debates that has only strengthened the BJP over the last eight years. The denial to be clubbed with any form of traditional political parties has kept its novelty alive – even amidst the consistent growth of the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose leadership has successfully attracted a majority of the Hindu population in large parts of India. Like Modi, Kejriwal is also perceived as an outsider in a corrupt political system, and resultantly a fresh alternative to the BJP by a majority of people, not merely Hindus.

The only aspect in which the AAP lags behind the BJP is its limited presence in states – a factor that can enthuse people but not garner their votes at the moment. Both AAP and BJP know this well. Thus, AAP is striving hard to remain relevant and attract public attention.

It has refused to be drawn into polarising discussions, and at the same time foregrounded issues of the poor by highlighting economic inequalities in Indian society. It has spent crores in advertisements to highlight even its minutest of achievements – often half-truths – to publicise its “unique” governance model and capture the public imagination. In short, Kejriwal has tried to beat Modi at his own game. Of course, the scale of such an exercise is tilted in the BJP’s favour, given the unrestricted corporate support that the saffron party enjoys. However, what the AAP has done with its limited resources can’t remain unseen.

The BJP is well aware of AAP’s appeal among its own voter base. Its machinery has devised an effective way to counter the Congress in the long run. Of course, the lethargic top leadership of the Congress has only ended up aiding the already-effective propagation of BJP’s propaganda. In such a scenario, only AAP poses a political challenge to the BJP. By winning Punjab, AAP has only risen in the BJP’s threat perception. At the moment, only AAP is trying to break into the BJP’s vote share that in almost all states has consistently been more than 35%. Other opposition parties have only manoeuvered to consolidate their traditional vote bases. In that respect, only the AAP is playing the long game to attain an electoral edge over other opposition parties, especially in the Hindi heartland, in breaking the BJP’s strongholds. A lack of historical baggage gives it an added advantage.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: PTI/File

The seriousness with which the BJP looks at AAP can be seen in the umpteen Hindu Right social media platforms where each and every statement and move by Kejriwal or his partymen are sought to be countered with great alertness. The most recent example of such a trend was when rabid Hindu Right platforms claimed that Kejriwal had helped Rohingya Muslims in Delhi with shelter, education, healthcare and food supply. This campaign was organised after Kejriwal questioned the BJP’s doublespeak on the Rohingyas when Hardeep Singh Puri welcomed a government “directive” to shift the refugees to flats constructed by the Centre-run New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).

Kejriwal, in a way, laid a trap for the BJP – which has only made hateful comments against the refugees. Such was the retaliation among the Sangh parivar constituents that the Union home ministry had to retract its decision, clarify that it hadn’t given any such direction and claimed that the AAP government had proposed to shift the Rohingyas to the flats. Although Kejriwal’s statement irked many in the anti-BJP camp, the tug-of-war between AAP and BJP was surely a game of wits.

Not surprisingly, the all-dominant BJP has been at AAP’s back. It engineered a near coup in AAP’s Himachal Pradesh unit, while also slapping charges of money laundering against the party’s state-in-charge Satyendar Jain. At the same time, Prime Minister Modi and other leaders of the BJP have taken special care to appeal to Sikhs on different platforms after AAP registered a comprehensive win in Punjab.

And now, when both Sisodia and Kejriwal were making frequent trips to poll-bound Gujarat to put together a vibrant party unit, the BJP has all the reasons to beware – especially when it is battling high anti-incumbency arising out of more than two decades of staying in power. One can recall that the enthusiasm shown by AAP in Modi’s home state forced the prime minister to hit out at Kejriwal recently with the “revdi culture” jibe. AAP, perhaps, is the only opposition party that makes the BJP realise the limitations of its Hindu majoritarian (or consolidation) politics. The timing of raids on Sisodia could not have come at a more opportune moment for the BJP.

Kejriwal has upped the heat in the ensuing battle between the two parties by calling a special session of the Delhi assembly on Thursday. He has gone a step ahead to allege that BJP is plotting a coup in Delhi, indicating that he isn’t in the mood to settle scores as yet.

As far as the BJP goes, it has even enjoyed bad press in recent times – all of which has only made it stronger. However, with AAP on the other side this time around, the result may not be the same.

Political Reason Behind Delay in Nod for My Singapore Visit: Arvind Kejriwal

The Delhi chief minister said he usually does not go on foreign visits but intended to go to the Singapore summit as it concerns the progress of the country.

New Delhi: “I am not a criminal,” said Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday, stressing that there appears to be a “political reason” behind the Union government’s delay in granting him permission to visit Singapore for a summit.

Miffed over the pending clearance, the chief minister had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, saying he has been waiting for the permission for over a month.

Kejriwal said he was specially invited to the World Cities Summit in Singapore by the government of that country, where he will present the ‘Delhi Model’ before world leaders and bring glory to India.

“I am not a criminal. I am an elected chief minister and a free citizen of the country. There was no legal basis to stop me from visiting Singapore so there appears to be a political reason behind this,” Kejriwal said after casting his vote for the presidential elections here.

Officials said the files for seeking permission for official visits of the chief minister and ministers are sent to the Lt Governor for his nod and further approval by the Ministry of External Affairs.

A file for Kejriwal’s Singapore visit was sent by the Delhi government to the LG office on June 7. The summit will take place in the first week of August.

High Commissioner of Singapore Simon Wong had in June invited Kejriwal to the World Cities Summit. The Delhi chief minister has been asked to attend a programme on the first day.

The chief minister said he usually does not go on foreign visits but intended to go to the Singapore summit as it concerns the progress of the country.

Kejriwal said the ‘Delhi Model’ enabled “remarkable progress” in all the sectors of governance and made a “significant change” in the lives of the people of the city.

“All the leaders of the world would get to know about the Delhi Model which would have made the country proud. The Delhi Model has already been praised all over the world,” he said.

The chief minister who also heads Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) batted for cooperation among all the governments and parties in the country, rising above politics, in the matters of country’s pride and glory.

“Ex-prime minister of Norway visited mohalla clinics. Former UN secretary-general Ban-Ki-Moon also visited mohalla clinics. The country should take pride in this and such showcasing should be encouraged,” he said.

The Union government should not stop this, Kejriwal said and added if a common man is free to travel outside the country, then why can not he as the elected chief minister of Delhi.

Chaos in Parliament Over Delhi Riots: Slogans Raised by Opposition Parties, BJP

Lok Sabha was adjourned at least thrice as minor scuffles broke out between a few members of the BJP and Congress.

New Delhi: The second leg of the Budget session of the parliament began and ended in chaos on Monday. MPs from opposition parties – which included the Congress, Trinamool Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party – staged separate dharnas near the Gandhi statue in parliament, demanding answers from the government on the Delhi riots.

While Trinamool Congress MPs, including Mahua Moitra and Sukhendu Shekhar Rai, covered their eyes with black bands and held a finger on their lips in a reenactment of ‘Gandhi’s Three Monkeys’, Congress legislators Rahul Gandhi, Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, Shashi Tharoor and others flashed placards that demanded the resignation of Union home minister Amit Shah.

Home minister Amit Shah arrives at parliament, just days after the Delhi riots, on Monday, March 2, 2020. Photo: Shahbaz Khan/PTI

The Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh, Bhagwant Mann, N.D.Gupta and Sushil Gupta raised slogans like “BJP Murdabad”.

Some opposition MPs – Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Choudhary, N.K. Premachandran (Revolutionary Socialist Party), P.K. Kunjalikutty (Muslim League), Elamaram Kareem (CPIM), Binoy Vishwam (CPI) – have also given notice in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to discuss the Delhi riots.

More than 45 people have been killed and 200 injured in the recent communal riots that swept Northeast Delhi. The riots allegedly unfolded with the complicity of Delhi Police, which functions under the Union home ministry.

Soon after the morning proceedings were adjourned in the Lok Sabha, Congress party leaders said that they would continue to protest in parliament over the communal violence in Delhi as it is the party’s duty to uncover the “conspiracy” behind the riots.

Lok Sabha was adjourned at least thrice as minor scuffles broke out between a few members of the BJP and Congress.

Each time the house would resume, opposition members, carrying black banners, stormed the well and the treasury benches to demand Shah’s resignation. They shouted “we want justice” and “Amit Shah Murdabad” (Down with Amit Shah). The commotion aggravated when BJP and Congress members pushed and shoved each other over the issue. As the opposition members protested, BJP members also began to shout slogans like “Desh ki raksha kaun karega, hum karenge hum karenge (Who will defend the nation, we will do it)” and “Mahatma Gandhi amar rahein, nakli Gandhi jail mein rahein (Long live Mahatma Gandhi, fake Gandhis stay in jail)”.

Also read: A Timeline of the Delhi Riots: Arson, Shooting and Police Indifference

In response, Choudhary said that “democracy has been torn to shreds” and alleged that a ruling party MP had assaulted Ramya Haridas, a Dalit Congress MP, in the Lok Sabha.

Soon after, Union minister Smriti Irani retorted to say that Congress MPs had misbehaved with BJP women MPs in Lok Sabha. “I would appeal to the Speaker (Om Birla) to take the strongest possible action against them,” Irani told reporters outside parliament.

“For the past two to three sessions ‘goonda‘ elements of the Congress are disrupting parliament proceedings,” she said, adding that the action of Congress members in parliament shows the desperation of the Gandhi family.

Also read: Majoritarianism Has Turned the Populace Into an Ever-Ready Mob

Parliamentary Affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, while condemning the “unruly behaviour” of the opposition, sought to shift attention from the currently unfolding anti-Muslim riots in northeast Delhi towards the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

Joshi alleged that “these are the people” who have provoked the riots. “They (Congress) murdered 3,000 people in 1984 (riots) and did no investigation. The priority is to restore peace… but they want to create tension,” he said.

The Rajya Sabha was also adjourned for the day, following an uproar over the riots. Opposition members accused the government of “sleeping” while Delhi burnt.

Amid the din, two bills – the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill and Mineral Laws Amendment Bill – were introduced in the Lok Sabha. The Direct Tax Vivaad Se Vishwas Bill was moved for consideration and passing.

(With inputs from PTI)