Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “You are all aware that today a very egregious and ignominious incident has occurred inside the Parliament and I think you have all witnessed it. So, from our side, today our leader Rahul Gandhi Ji had secured proprietary position for asking an oral Question in Lok Sabha during the Question Hour. Whenever a Member gets the rare opportunity of being listed in Starred list during Question Hour, he uses it to prepare himself to put the questions in right perspective and accordingly Rahul Gandhi also has prepared himself. When his turn came, Rahul Gandhi Ji stood up and mentioned the serial number of his question as is customary in our parliamentary proceedings during Question Hour.

The Minister concerned, is supposed to first lay the paper on the floor of the House with regard to that question. This is the normal procedure. But instead of mentioning that, the paper is being laid on the table or the paper has been laid on the table. The concerned Minister had started rolling out some papers at his disposal and started accusing as well as abusing Rahul Gandhi Ji on some statement Rahul Gandhi Ji had made outside the Parliament.

The statement that Rahul Gandhi Ji had made outside the Parliament does not have any relevance or any co-relation with this Question. So, we protested against the way Minister was delivering his reply. Our argument was that the Question has been asked by Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji and you should reply the pertinent question in the right perspective. That is the procedure. But while ignoring this method, you started accusing and abusing Rahul Gandhi Ji which naturally drew flak from our end. It is clearly established that it was a deliberate, premeditated way of accusing Rahul Gandhi Ji. This is the first part of our protest.

We hope that the Hon’ble Speaker will intervene firmly and timely to address this issue so that the Members’ privileges and their rights remain protected.” Friday, 7th February, 2020