India
‘Continuous sexual harassment and intimidation’: Mahua Moitra accuses Kiren Rijiju of ‘openly threatening’ her in Lok Sabha | India News – Times of India
She also said that despite Chairman Om Birla indicating that he would remove Rijiju’s comments from the record, no action has been taken so far.
“So Kiren Rijiju is openly threatening me Lok Sabha today in complete violation of parliamentary rules and procedures. @ombirlakota says he will have Rijiju’s words removed, but no action has been taken yet. Written to the Inter-Parliamentary Union against this continued gender harassment and intimidation,” she wrote on X.
The incident happened between them during a debate on 75 years of the Indian Constitution, where Moitra’s comments on the death of Justice BH Loya sparked controversy in the Lok Sabha.
“The Honorable Defense Minister in a speech this morning mentioned the courage of late Justice HR Khanna to dissent in 1976. May I remind everyone that Justice HR Khanna lived under a largely Congress regime for 32 years after 1976. Long enough to write his autobiography from which the minister quoted. Unlike poor judge Loya, who rests in peace long before his time,” Moitra said.
Rijiju responded by saying she had raised a matter already dealt with by the Supreme Court and pointed out the possible parliamentary consequences.
“We will take appropriate parliamentary action. You can’t escape. You are setting a very wrong precedent,” Rijuju said.
The hearing was then briefly adjourned twice and resumed only after Chairman Om Birla requested Moitra to verify her statements. He also expressed the opposition’s concerns over Rijiju’s stern words towards a woman lawmaker.
Nishikant Dubey of BJP also raised objection after Moitra’s speech. Rijiju termed Moitra’s comments as worrying and warned that such behavior could set an unwanted precedent.
After the suspensions, TMC’s Saugata Roy and Congress’s KC Venugopal took exception to Rijiju’s language, stressing that the Speaker has authority in the Lok Sabha. They suggested that proper parliamentary procedures should have been followed if there were concerns about Moitra’s speech.
Addressing Birla, Venugopal said that while the minister was supposed to maintain law and order, he instead intimidated a woman member. He asked for an apology or removal of Rijiju’s comments.
