Congress MLA demanded Mr Rijiju's resignation for his comments on Gurmehar.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju's comments on Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur may be raised in parliament by the Congress when the budget session resumes, a senior lawmaker of the party said today. "He is not fit for the union minister's job. He should quit. We will raise the issue of growing incidence of intolerance from the part of certain Union ministers in parliament," Congress lawmaker KC Venugopal said, referring to Mr Rijiju's criticism of a post by 20-year-old Gurmehar Kaur.
Mr Venugopal, who is the party's deputy chief whip in the Lok Sabha, demanded Mr Rijiju's resignation, alleging that his comments on the student "sounded like a threat".
Mr Rijiju had reacted to a video post in which Gurmehar Kaur appealed for peace between India and Pakistan in a series of placards, one of which said, "Pakistan did not kill my father, war killed him". Her father, Captain Mandeep Singh, died fighting terrorists in 1999.
Mr Rijiju, the minister of state for home, questioned in a tweet, "who's polluting this young girl's mind?".
The comment came even as Gurmehar Kaur alleged that she had received rape and murder threats over her online campaign against the student group ABVP.
Yesterday she withdrew from the campaign, saying she had shown enough courage.
Facing flak over his statement, Mr Rijiju told NDTV today that he believed Gurmehar Kaur is a pawn in the hands of "Leftists".
He had also said she was free to express her views.