RS logjam ends after Jaitley clarifies on PM's Pak remark

Stalemate in the Lok Sabha continues over Union minister Ananthkumar Hegde's controversial statements on secularism and changing the Constitution.

The government said in Parliament on Wednesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has never questioned Manmohan Singh's integrity and commitment to the nation, ending a deadlock that had paralysed the house for nearly two weeks.

However, a fresh row over Union minister Anant Kumar Hegde's controversial comments on secularism is likely to keep the House astir.

On its part, the Congress party said it does not approve of any remarks made against the prime minister, apparently in a reference to the ‘neech’ remark made by its leader, Mani Shankar Aiyar.

The proceedings of both Houses of Parliament were repeatedly disrupted over the past two weeks over remarks by Modi during the Gujarat assembly election campaign. He had criticised his predecessor Singh for attending a 'secret' dinner with senior Pakistan officials at Aiyar’s residence.

The Congress said Modi's remarks implied that Singh and other public figures who attended the dinner were conspiring with Pakistan, and demanded an apology from the prime minister.

Rajya Sabha

Leader of the House Arun Jaitley said Modi, in his statements and speeches, ‘did not question nor did he mean to question the commitment to this nation either by Dr Manmohan Singh, the former Prime Minister, or Hamid Ansari, the former vice president’.

"Any such perception is completely erroneous. We hold these leaders in high esteem, as also their commitment to this nation," Jaitley said.

Earlier, the Upper House was adjourned in the morning due to protests over Union minister Ananthkumar Hegde's remarks on secularism and changing the Constitution.

Jaitley said many statements had been made on all sides during the Gujarat elections, and added that the government ‘does not want the stalemate as a result of this to continue’.

Responding to his statement, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “I want to thank the Leader of the House that he issued a clarification on the issue which was causing the deadlock for the last one week.”

Azad sought to assure the government on behalf of the Congress that the party dissociates itself from any statement made against the personality of the prime minister, apparently in reference to those made by its MP Mani Shankar Aiyar.

"If during the elections (recent assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh), any member of our party gave such a statement that was against the stature of the prime minister, then our party dissociates itself from any such statement and we would not want any word to be said against the stature of the Prime Minister," Azad said.

The Congress had suspended Aiyar from its primary membership and slapped a show cause notice on him for calling Prime Minister Modi a ‘neech aadmi’ or a lowly person.

After the two statements, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu thanked all members of the House for their cooperation in resolving the stalemate.

However, Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal stood up to object, charging that the fate of the proceedings in the House could not be decided based on statements by only two people.

To this, Naidu said, "We discussed it in the morning in the business advisory committee. Every member of the House is important. Let us not sidetrack the issue".

Lok Sabha

Having called a truce on one front, the rivals opened another over Hegde's controversial remarks on secularism and the Constitution that could keep the cauldron on the boil over the next few days.

The Opposition forced adjournment of the Lok Sabha several times over Hegde's comments that those supporting secularism were ‘children of unknown parentage’, and demanded that he be sacked as a minister.

Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the Congress in the House, called Hegde's remarks unacceptable, and said it meant ‘we all who support secular thoughts are not born to their parents’.

Kharge alleged that Hegde, Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, had also denigrated the architect of the Constitution, B R Ambedkar, with his comment that the current dispensation came to power to ‘change’ it.

Rejecting Kharge's comments, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar claimed the Congress leader was trying to distort what Hegde had said.
He, however, did not comment on Hegde's remarks or try to defend him.

"B R Ambedkar is the father of the Constitution and we respect him. The prime minister had said the Constitution is our national book (Rastriya Granth). We are committed to it and secularism. The Congress should not teach us secularism," said Kumar, while asking the Opposition not to disrupt the proceedings.

"The Congress is indulging in pseudo-secularism. You(Congress) did not allow Baba Saheb Ambedkar to contest polls. He was brought to Rajya Sabha by Jana Sangh," he said, listing out steps taken by the government to preserve Ambedkar's legacy.

At a function in Karnataka on Sunday, Hegde had reportedly said people should identify themselves by their religion and ‘those who, without knowing about their parental blood, call themselves secular, they don't have their own identity...They don't know about their parentage’.

He had also reportedly said, "We are here to change the Constitution and we'll change it."

A senior Congress leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the party would press for a debate on the harassment of the wife and mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav, on death row over espionage and terrorism charges in Pakistan, during their visit to that country.

He said after that gets over, the party will once again raise the issue of Hegde's controversial remarks.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is scheduled to make a statement on the Jadhav episode in Parliament on Thursday.

Photograph: PTI Photo