As soon as Union Home Minister P Chidambaram tabled the Liberhan Commission’s report, many BJP members began shouting slogans in the name of Lord Ram.
This appears to have agitated Singh so much that he left his seat without any provocation and advanced menacingly towards Ahluwalia who was seated in the front row.
Singh pushed Ahluwalia, who in defence, pushed him back. With both refusing to budge from their respective positions, other members, including Union Minister Prithviraj Chauhan and SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, promptly rushed to the aisle to separate the battling duo.
House adjourned
Unable to calm down the two members, Deputy Chairman K Rehman Khan adjourned the House immediately even as BJP and Samajwadi Party members continued with their slogan shouting.
Outside the House, Singh said that he was willing to apologise to Ahluwalia and did not have any intention to manhandle him.
“I am ready to apologise to Ahluwalia. I didn’t want to manhandle him. But he raised slogans, which had the potential of dividing the House on communal lines,” he told reporters.
The Upper House, in fact, could not take up its regular business on Tuesday because of two adjournments in the first one hour.
Convert Dalits quota
The chair had to adjourn the House as members demanded tabling of the Ranganath Mishra commission report on reservation on Dalit converts.
Cutting across party lines, MPs demanded tabling of the Ranganath Mishra Commission report which was submitted to the government two years ago.
A substantial portion from the Mishra Commission’s report was reportedly published on Tuesday in a Hindi daily published from Indore.
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