Rajya Sabha witnesses uproar over Kharge's unparliamentary expression

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha witnessed heated arguments between ruling party and opposition members on Tuesday over a remark by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who later regretted it and underscored that his target was the central government and not the presiding officer.

As the Upper House took up a discussion on the working of the Education Ministry soon after the Question Hour, several opposition members were on their feet demanding an apology from Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for his remarks against the Tamil Nadu government.

Pradhan on Monday slammed the Tamil Nadu government for its stand on the three-language policy under the National Education Policy (NEP), accusing it of "ruining the future of the students" in the state for politics

Amid the uproar, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge stood up to intervene.

Even though the Chair said the Congress president had already been given an opportunity to speak in the morning, Kharge said the education minister was not in the House at that time. "This is a dictatorship," he said.

As the Chair said it was Singh's turn to speak, Kharge said the opposition was prepared to corner the government.

Kharge used a Hindi expression to mean that the opposition would "hit back" at the government, leading to an uproar from the treasury benches that claimed the expression was "unparliamentary".

Leader of the House and Health Minister  J P Nadda intervened and said the expression used by the Leader of Opposition is condemnable.

Kharge immediately apologised for using the expression, and also clarified that it was not meant for the chair but for government policies. "I am sorry, I was not speaking about you, it was about government policies. I am sorry if you were hurt by my remarks, I apologise to you," he said.

Nadda said it is good that Kharge apologised to the Chair, and appreciated his gesture, adding the remarks are still condemnable if they were meant for the government.

The Chair then called Digvijay Singh to speak who initiated the debate on the working of the Education Ministry.