Lie Vs Lie: In Parliament Battle, Motions Against Smriti Irani, Jyotiraditya Scindia

Urging the Speaker to accept his party's motion, Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad said Ms Irani misled the nation "not just once, she has misled the people of the country in both Houses. It is a very serious charge."

To attack the minister, his party cites the claim of Rohith's mother, who has said that Ms Irani's statement in Parliament last week that "nobody allowed a doctor near Rohith's body" was a set of "absolute lies".

Rohith, a Dalit research scholar, committed suicide on January 17 days after he was banned from common areas on the campus for allegedly beating up an activist of the BJP's student wing.

His supporters and opposition parties say he was a victim of caste discrimination. They also allege that Ms Irani's ministry pushed for him and four other students to be punished after union minister Bandaru Dattatreya wrote to the Education Ministry demanding action against them.

Mr Azad said repeated disruptions in the House today by AIADMK leaders,  who were protesting over a newspaper report on former minister P Chidambaram's son Karthi, were "organised by the ruling party" to deflect attention from "serious issues."

The BJP has said that Mr Scindia "misled" the House on February 24 by alleging that Mr Dattatreya had called Rohith Vemula "anti-national, casteist and extremist". Mr Dattatreya said today that Mr Scindia was "defaming him and tarnishing" his image by attributing to him remarks he never made. "My mother used to sell onions. I have always worked for OBCs, Dalits... I have made sacrifices for Dalits," he said,

The privilege motion against Ms Irani in the Lok Sabha is not a big worry for the government, which has a comfortable majority in the Lower House to defeat it. The real worry is in the Rajya Sabha, where the government is in a minority.

Parliament today also witnessed uproar over controversial remarks by union Minister of State for Education, Ram Shankar Katheria. The Congress had moved both houses for a discussion on his comments.

At a prayer meeting for murdered Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist Arun Mahaur public in Agra in Uttar Pradesh, he had reportedly said, "All of this that is happening to the youth in this country, the conspiracies against the Hindu community...We will have to get strong and fight this conflict...Today, one Arun has died, tomorrow another Arun will die...before the second Arun dies (his) killers should go."

In a statement today, he denied saying anything controversial." "What has been published in newspapers as my speech is completely wrong. I didn't name any community. I only said the killers should be hanged," he said.