Hours after being accused of provoking the BJP MP who hurled communal slurs at him in the Lok Sabha, Bahujan Samaj Party member Danish Ali hit back at the ruling party and said that it was trying to frame a narrative against him.
Mr Ali said that, far from provoking or instigating BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri by making an objectionable remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi - as was alleged by the party's Nishikant Dubey earlier in the day - he was trying to get the abusive words expunged from the record.
During a discussion on the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, Mr Bidhuri had used a string of objectionable and communal words against the BSP MP, triggering disgust and widespread condemnation both from politicians and people on social media. On Friday, the BJP had also issued a show-cause notice to Mr Bidhuri and asked him to explain his conduct.
'Instigation'
On Saturday, however, BJP Nishikant Dubey, while condemning the language used by Mr Bidhuri, wrote to Speaker Om Birla and demanded that the "unsavoury" conduct of Mr Ali be investigated as well.
"The fact remains that during the entire speech of Shri Bidhuri, Shri Danish Ali indulged in a 'running commentary' and also made unsavoury remarks towards one and all with a view to cause hindrance to Shri Bidhuri and also instigate him to 'lose his calm and composure' and not be able to express his views in the House," Mr Dubey wrote in his letter.
The BJP MP alleged that when Mr Bidhuri was speaking, the BSP MP was "busy instigating" him and also - at the top of his voice - made a "highly objectionable and blasphemous remark" against PM Modi.
"This statement made by Danish Ali, I think, was more than enough for any patriotic public representative to 'lose his calm' and fall into his trap by uttering unsavoury words," Mr Dubey said.
'Setting a narrative'
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, a few hours later, Mr Ali posted a video of Mr Bidhuri's utterances and wrote in Hindi, "Today, some BJP leaders are trying to frame a narrative that I provoked Shri Ramesh Bidhuri in the Parliament, whereas the truth is that I worked to save the dignity of the post of Prime Minister. I demanded that the Chairman expunge the highly objectionable words used against Modiji from the record."
The video posted by Mr Ali showed Mr Bidhuri listing out the objectionable remarks made by opposition leaders against the PM in the past. These are the remarks Mr Ali is probably referring to in his post.
Action, Opposition Moves
Four opposition parties - Congress, DMK, Trinamool Congress and NCP - wrote to Speaker Birla on Friday and demanded immediate punitive action against Mr Bidhuri.
Officials said the Speaker has taken "serious notice" of the slurs hurled by the BJP MP and warned him of "strict action" if he repeated such behaviour.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had said in the Lok Sabha, "I express regret if the Opposition is hurt by the remarks made by the member." The Opposition parties, however, slammed him for offering a "half-hearted" apology.
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