'Didn't go to assault anyone': Varsha Gaikwad defends Congress MPs waving posters at Treasury Benches

New Delhi: Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad on Tuesday slammed Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, who shared a video of the Congress MPs' "degrading behaviour" in the Parliament.

Today, Rijiju shared a video on X which showed Congress MPs, including Varsha Gaikwad, approaching the Treasury Benches with posters.

Speaking to ANI, Gaikwad defended waving posters at Treasury Benches, refuting the Union Minister's claims as "baseless allegations." She stated that the women MPs did not go to the ruling party MPs to assault anyone.

The Congress MP said, "Wasn't Kiren Rijiju present in the House that day? What is new in the video? Didn't he see the video already? Baseless allegations are being put on us. We didn't go to assault anyone; we were just holding a banner. He (PM Modi) got scared because of a banner. He got scared of taking a book. He doesn't want to talk about tariffs or China. Did we do any actions with our hands, did we say anything? What did we do? Is holding a banner wrong?"

Earlier today, Kiren Rijiju posted the video on X and wrote, "Congress Party is proud of the most degrading behaviour by their MPs! If we had not stopped all the BJP MPs and allowed the Women MPs to confront Cong. MPs, it would have led to very ugly scene. We have very high consideration to protect the dignity & sanctity of the Parliament."

On Thursday, Speaker Om Birla said he had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to come to the House to prevent any unpleasant incident, after receiving information that some Congress MPs could come to the PM's seat and "resort to an unprecedented incident".

In response, on Monday, Congress women MPs said their protests in the House were peaceful and in line with parliamentary norms, but they faced unprecedented targeting.

In the letter, the MPs highlighted that during the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, was repeatedly denied the opportunity to speak over four consecutive days, while a BJP MP was allowed to make "vulgar and obscene" remarks about former Prime Ministers.

The MPs further claimed that when they met the Speaker to demand action against the BJP MP, he acknowledged a "grave mistake" but later indicated he was awaiting the government's response, suggesting he no longer acted independently in such matters.

The next day, the MPs claimed, the Speaker, reportedly under pressure from the ruling party to justify the Prime Minister's absence, issued a statement making "grave allegations" against them.