Rijiju Shares Video, Claims Congress MPs Threatened Speaker and Prime Minister
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday released a video clip that he asserted was recorded by a Congress Member of Parliament inside the chamber of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. In a post on social media platform X, Rijiju reiterated earlier allegations, accusing Congress MPs of forcefully entering the Speaker's chamber, engaging in misbehavior, and using abusive language.
Allegations of Unruly Conduct and Threats
"This is the illegal video clip taken by a Congress MP when 20-25 Congress MPs entered the Chamber of the Honourable Speaker, abused him, and threatened the Honourable Prime Minister. Our party believes in debate and discussion and never encourages MPs to threaten physically," Rijiju stated. His remarks follow similar accusations from the previous day, where he claimed a group of Congress MPs had behaved in an unruly manner within the Speaker's chamber.
Speaking to reporters, Rijiju elaborated, "At least 20-25 Congress MPs entered the Lok Sabha Speaker's chamber and abused him. I was also there. The Speaker is a very soft person, otherwise strict actions would have been taken. Senior Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and KC Venugopal, were also present inside, and they were encouraging them to fight."
Escalating Parliamentary Confrontation
The minister further detailed the incident, noting, "They went to the Speaker's chamber and abused him, said bad things. Then the Speaker gave a ruling, which was not followed, and then Rahul Gandhi said that he does not need anyone's permission to speak. He will speak as per his wish, without any rules... Unless permission is given by the Chair, members cannot speak in the House. Even the Prime Minister will speak only with the permission of the Chair. Everyone speaks only with permission."
These allegations emerge amid a deepening confrontation between the government and opposition in Parliament. Earlier this week, opposition parties submitted a notice seeking the removal of Om Birla as Lok Sabha Speaker, accusing him of acting in a "blatantly partisan" manner. Opposition leaders have also alleged that Birla made "false claims" against Congress MPs after he referred to certain "unexpected action" in the Lok Sabha and requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to come to the House to reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address.
BJP Response and Further Claims
The Bharatiya Janata Party has strongly rejected the opposition's move against the Speaker, labeling it an attempt to weaken parliamentary institutions. Rijiju had previously claimed that tensions in the Lok Sabha could have escalated further if BJP MPs had confronted Congress members on the day the Prime Minister was scheduled to respond to the debate.
He also shared video footage from the February 4 proceedings, which showed women MPs from the Opposition moving towards the treasury benches during heated exchanges. Rijiju questioned the conduct and accused the opposition of disrupting parliamentary proceedings in an unprecedented manner. According to the minister, BJP and National Democratic Alliance MPs were "very angry" over the behavior of Congress members but chose to maintain restraint.
Background of Parliamentary Disruptions
Parliament has faced several disruptions since February 2 after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was prevented by the Chair from quoting an article based on excerpts from former Army chief M M Naravane's "unpublished memoir." The situation escalated on February 4, when the Prime Minister was unable to reply to the Motion of Thanks amid opposition protests. The motion was passed on February 5 without the customary prime ministerial reply, with the Speaker reading it out and it being approved by voice vote amid continued sloganeering by Opposition MPs.
