Opposition parties today sought an apology from HRD minister Smriti Irani for reading out in Rajya Sabha “objectionable” comments made outside against a god, as she defended herself saying she was asked for proof of her statements against JNU students.
Deputy Leader of Congress in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma raised a point of order saying the Constitution and rules do not permit anything to be raised in the House which is blasphemous and can hurt religious sentiments. Irani, he said, had read out “insulting” comments made against Goddess Durga “verbatim” in the House hurting sentiments and sought a ruling from the Chair as to whether such comments made outside Parliament against any religious figure or a deity can be read out inside the House.
Members of other opposition parties also agreed with KC Tyagi of JD(U) demanding that Irani should unconditionally apologise for the comments read out by her.
Irani, however, remained unfazed by the criticism and asserted that she herself was a “practising hindu and a Durga worshipper”. The HRD minister also insisted that she had read out the comments from authenticated documents from JNU as she was repeatedly being asked to explain what was the evidence against students accused of anti-national acts, which some parties were giving respectability to.
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