Congress moves privilege motion against PM Modi for sharing Anurag Yadav’s caste jibe at Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha

The Congress party has moved a privilege motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi over ‘encouraging’ Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Anurag Thakur’s comments about Rahul Gandhi’s caste in Lok Sabha on July 30.

Congress Member of Parliament (Jalandhar) Charanjit Singh Channi submitted a Privilege complaint against PM Modi to the Secretary General, Lok Sabha, the party said on July 31.

While speaking on Budget 2024 in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Thakur, the Hamiprpur MP, got into a heated exchange with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, taking a jibe at Gandhi’s caste.

 Thakur’s remarks were expunged from the proceedings of the House. The remarks led to an uproar from the opposition and a renewed call to consider the caste census bill. 

“The PM tweeting the remarks that had been expunged from the proceedings of Lok Sabha clearly amounts to a breach of privilege motion against the PM, and Irequest you to please admit my motion and permit me to move the same, request that privilege proceedings may be initiated against the Prime Minister,” the notice by Channi reads.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared the video of Anurag Thakur’s speech, calling it a ‘must hear’.  Thus, the Congress decided to move a privilege motion complaint against the Prime Minister.

Privilege Motion refers to a formal process through which the Parliament or State Legislatures can deal with instances of breach of parliamentary privileges by individuals or authorities.

Terming Thakur’s comments ‘highly abusive and unconstitutional tirade’, the Congress earlier accused PM Modi of encouraging a ‘serious breach of parliamentary privilege’ by sharing his Lok Sabha speech on X. 

Tagging Modi’s post on X, Ramesh said, “This speech that the non-biological Prime Minister calls a ‘must hear’ is a highly abusive and unconstitutional tirade – and by sharing it, he has encouraged a serious breach of Parliamentary privilege.”

Rahul Gandhi accused Thakur of insulting and abusing him during the debate but asserted that he would not seek any apology from the former Union minister. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also came down heavily on Thakur’s apparent questioning of Gandhi’s caste in the Lok Sabha.

“A socio-economic caste census is the demand of 80 per cent of the people of this country. Today, it was said in Parliament that those whose caste is not known talk about a caste census,” she said in a post in Hindi on X on Tuesday.