As the ruckus in the Lok Sabha continued over Rahul Gandhi’s speech on India-China clashes during the ongoing budget session of Parliament, Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was presiding over the House, took offense when a member, possibly from the Congress, addressed him as “yaar” – meaning friend.
The Lok Sabha reconvened at 2 pm after two adjournments earlier on Tuesday. Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday authenticated a copy of an article in the Lok Sabha that cited the unpublished “memoirs” of former army chief MM Naravane.
When Gandhi was asked to address the Motion of Thanks, he cited the Speaker’s decision on Monday and endorsed a copy of the article. “I checked,” he said.
To verify the document, the member must submit a signed copy certifying that it is correct to the best of his knowledge.
Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who presided over the House, asked him to table it and said “we will look into it and come back”.
“What year is it?”
However, Rahul Gandhi continued to raise the India-China issue, which was raised by opposition members, including Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju. Rijiju cited his earlier meeting with KC Venugopal, a Congress leader considered very close to Rahul. The Chairman urged Venugopal to let Rahul speak and during this conversation Venugopal said “abbe yaar” to the Chairman.
Tenneti took offense, citing protocol and propriety. “What did you just say? What year is it? This is Parliament. This is Lok Sabha. You can’t address the Speaker with yaar. Please take your words back. You can’t,” Tenneti replied.
LiveMint has not seen the video to verify who actually used the word “yaar”. A conversation streamed on Sansad TV’s YouTube channel revealed that it was KC Venugopal.
“You are not allowing the LoP to speak,” said the Speaker of the House.
House adjourned again
As the impasse continued over Gandhi trying to quote the article, Tenneti adjourned until 3:00 p.m.
The Lok Sabha was marred by protests on Monday as well. A massive political row ensued when the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) spoke during Budget Session of Parliamentattacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and sought to read about the clashes between India and China from excerpts from the unpublished memoirs of former army chief MM Naravane.
What year is it, you can’t address the chair as a year. There is decorum.
The excerpts published in the magazine drew a backlash from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who accused him of lying to the House and belittling the armed forces. The house was adjourned for the day due to repeated protests in the house.