"Won't Tolerate Insult To Charan Singh": Vice President Slams Congress

Coming down heavily on Congress, Leader of the House and Union Minister Piyush Goyal said on Saturday that had the former Prime Minister Chaudhary Singh belonged to the Nehru-Gandhi family, then the previous Congress-led UPA government would have awarded him the Bharat Ratna.

He also said that it is a "moment of pride" that Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Bharat Ratna for Charan Singh.

He was speaking during the last session of the ongoing budget session of Parliament ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

During his speech, Piyush Goyal said that the leader of the opposition should apologise to the country for "insulting" Chaudhary Charan Singh.

"...LoP should apologise to the country for insulting Chaudhary Charan Singh," Goyal said.

Hailing the decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce the Bharat Ratna to Charan Singh, he said, "It is a moment of pride that PM Modi gave respect to Chaudhary Charan Singh by awarding him the Bharat Ratna..."

Lashing out at the Congress, Piyush Goyal said during his address, ""It is a moment of pride that PM Modi gave respect to Chaudhary Charan Singh by awarding him the Bharat Ratna...Congress should have been celebrating today that their former PM has been awarded by the Modi government. But unfortunately, he didn't have Nehru-Gandhi in his surname. If he belonged to the first family it would have worked."

In his response, Mallikarjun Kharge said, "They salute all those people who have worked for the country irrespective of political parties, caste, and creed."

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar also hit out at the opposition benches saying "You virtually insulted Chaudhary Charan Singh, you insulted his legacy. You had no time for Bharat Ratna Chaudhary Charan Singh. You are hurting every farmer in the country by creating such an environment inside the House on the issue of Chaudhary Charan Singh. Our heads should bow in shame."

"I will not tolerate insult to Chaudhary Charan Singh. He stands for impeccable public life, unimpeachable integrity, and commitment to farmers...I have seen with my eyes, ruckus, chaos, condemnation, shouting and sloganeering" the Vice President added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday that former PMs Chaudhary Charan Singh and PV Narasimha Rao will be conferred the Bharat Ratna, and, along with them, MS Swaminathan, also known as the father of the green revolution, will also be awarded the country's highest civilian award.

This is the last session of the current Lok Sabha before the general elections, which are likely to be held in April-May this year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)