Lok Sabha adjourns four times amid Opposition ruckus

The Lok Sabha on Friday witnessed uproar as Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur hit out at the Nehru-Gandhi family while responding to criticism by the Opposition parties of the PM CARES Fund.

The House was adjourned four times due to ruckus over the comments made by Thakur. The Opposition MPs strongly protested against the remarks made by him on the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as well as Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her family.

The MPs of the ruling BJP on the other hand protested against a comment by leader of the Congress in the House, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, referring to the young Minister of State for Finance as a ‘chhokra’ (boy).

The normalcy was restored in the Lok Sabha only after Thakur, who was elected from Himachal Pradesh, said in the House that he was pained if his statement had hurt anybody's sentiment.

The Trinamool Congress alleged during the ruckus that the Opposition MPs were not being given adequate time and opportunity to express their views in the House.

Chowdhury and other Congress MPs like Shashi Tharoor and Manish Tewari earlier criticized the Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund), which the government had set up on March 28 this year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. While speaking on the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill, they alleged that the PM CARES Fund set up by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government lacked transparency.

"From the High Court to the Supreme Court, every court has validated the PM CARES fund. Little children have contributed to it from their piggy banks,” Thakur responded to the criticism by Congress MPs.

“When it comes to talking about PM CARES, you please do look at the PM National Relief Fund. In 1948, then Prime Minister Nehru Ji (Jawaharlal Nehru) ordered the creation of a Prime Minister's National Relief Fund like a royal order,” he said.

"From 1948 till today, it has not been registered. How did it get (foreign contribution) FCRA (Foreign Currency Regulation Act) clearance? The trust is not registered. (The) PM CARES is a registered public charitable trust. This is for 130 crore people,” he added.

“You created a trust for the Gandhi family. Nehru, Sonia Gandhi were members of the PM National Relief Fund. This should be investigated,” said Thakur, triggering protests by Congress MPs who demanded an apology from him.

"Who is this boy from Himachal (Pradesh)?” asked Chowdhury, protesting against the remark by Thakur. “How did Nehru come into this debate?”

The Lok Sabha had to be adjourned repeatedly due to the ruckus. Speaker Om Birla later had a meeting with the leaders of all the parties at his office.