An assault in Parliament

On Thursday morning a group of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs were at the Makar Dwar (gate) of Parliament protesting against Congress for denying Dalit icon B R Ambedkar his due. Since BJP leaders have been going after the Congress first family, starting with Jawaharlal Nehru, for belittling Ambedkar, it would be fair to say the protests were primarily aimed at Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi.

BJP MPs were getting back at protests organised by Congress and INDIA alliance parties over Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Ambedkar – circulated in an edited form – that were meant to put the government on the backfoot. The Parliament security staff, which has limited leeway with MPs, kept a passage for the Opposition MPs who were moving towards the gate which the entrance for members.

By most accounts, Rahul Gandhi chose to walk through the protesting BJP MPs. He says his passage was blocked, a claim challenged by BJP MPs. In any case he waded in and two MPs fell down. One of them, 69-year-old Pratap Sarangi sustained serious cuts to the head. A frail man with a ascetic bearing, Sarangi slipped after another BJP MP Mukesh Rajput fell on him. “Rahul Gandhi pushed an MP, who fell on me, and I fell down,” Sarangi told the media before being taken to hospital.

Speaking to the media later, Rahul Gandhi said, “I was trying to enter Parliament and BJP MPs were pushing me and threatening me.” Congress claimed that party president Mallikarjun Kharge was hurt.

The gates that provide access to Parliament are well supplied with CCTVs and footage should at some point be available that may cast more light on what happened. This will help settle the question whether Rahul walked into the BJP group. If he did when there was a path cleared by security personnel, he might have acted in an impulsive and poorly considered manner. The BJP sloganeering could well have been provocative, but there is no justification for pushing anyone MP or otherwise.

When Lok Sabha met at 2 pm Congress MPs gathered in the House holding up posters of Ambedkar. As soon as BJP MP Dilip Saikia, who is on the panel of presiding officers took the chair, Congress MPs clambered onto the areas on either side of the chair holding up posters. Defence minister Rajnath Singh could be seen walking into the chamber behind the chair as Saikia vacated the spot. The House was adjourned soon after.

In the past 10 years, the lines of restraint have been crossed on several occasions. The responsibility for decorum lies on both the treasury and opposition benches. In hindsight, the BJP protest at the Makar Dwar might have been ill considered. But it is evident that Rahul rose to the bait and a melee followed.

In the old Parliament building, the use of banners and posters mounted on wooden frames had become common. Posters supported by wooden sticks were used to obstruct cameras or wave before the chair. Placing oneself in front of a minister was a way to disrupt and force the camera to play a game of hide and seek. These tactics were justified on the grounds that Parliament TV cameras did not show Opposition MPs in the well, though their noisy protests were evident in the audio.

Congress leaders say the provocation lies on the part of the BJP. But it was not necessary to respond in kind. In fact, the push that became a shove effectively took attention away from the INDIA alliance’s intent to focus the last two days of the winter session of Parliament on the alleged slight to Ambedkar.

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