Congress moves motion against PM for backing Anurag Thakur's 'caste' remark

The Congress on Wednesday moved a Privilege Motion against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for praising BJP leader AnuragThakur’s speech. Jalandhar MP and former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi has submitted a complaint to the Lok Sabha secretary general. 

Channi has said in his letter that "certain objectionable remarks" made by Anurag Thakur were expunged from the proceedings of the House. "It is, however, shocking to note that these expunged portions had been tweeted by the Prime Minister on X along with the whole speech video. In addition to this other objectionable expunged words in the speech had also been tweeted as laid down in Practice and Procedure of Parliament by Kaul & Shakdher," he has said.

Channi said that expunged remarks cannot be publicly repeated. "But the Prime Minister publicised them by tweeting," he said. On the BJP's contention that the remarks had not been expunged when the Prime Minister tweeted, Channi said, "They were expunged in the House right away."

Amid the row over the five-time MP's remark, the Prime Minister shared a video of Thakur's speech on X and said it is a "must hear". "This speech by my young and energetic colleague, Shri @ianuragthakur is a must hear. A perfect mix of facts and humour, exposing the dirty politics of the INDI Alliance," he said.

The Congress responded sharply, saying that the Prime Minister had encouraged a "serious breach of parliamentary privilege" by sharing the speech, which it described as a "highly abusive and unconstitutional tirade".

Anurag Thakur's remarks against Mr Gandhi drew a sharp response from the Opposition benches yesterday. Senior Congress MP Jagdambika Pal, who was in the Chair, had assured the remarks would be expunged. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that while expunged comments are edited out of videos uploaded online, Sansad TV has uploaded the unedited speech in this case. "This is a new and shameful low in the annals of India's parliamentary history. It reflects the BJP-RSS and Modi's deep-rooted casteism," he alleged.

On Tuesday (July 30), Anurag Thakur sparked an ugly spat between the opposition and treasury benches when he questioned the Congress stand on caste census. He made certain remarks on Gandhi’s caste that triggered the uproar and had Congress MPs trooping into the Well of the Lok Sabha but the LoP later said he will not seek any apology from the former Union minister.