Lok Sabha: Congress stages walkout over Unnao rape case

The Congress on Wednesday staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha over the car-truck collision in which the young woman, who was allegedly raped by the BJP MLA from Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, critically injured.

Adhir Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, raised the issue soon after the House assembled on Wednesday.

He said that several ministers and MPs of the BJP had protested in the Lok Sabha when Azam Khan of the Samajwadi Party had recently made a controversial remark against Rama Devi of the ruling party. He wondered why the ministers and the ruling BJP MPs were now not raising voice on the car-truck collision that killed two aunts of the rape victim and critically injured herself and her lawyer.

Chowdhury continued even as several BJP MPs rose, apparently to counter what he was saying.

Speaker Om Birla did not allow the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha to speak longer. Chowdhury, however, continued to speak even after his microphone was switched off and another BJP MP rose to raise a different issue concerning his parliamentary constituency.

Chowdhury and other Congress MPs then staged a walkout from the House.

Trinamool Congress's leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, also raised the issue. He wondered when the law and order of West Bengal could be debated in the Lok Sabha, why the issue of the truck-car collision injuring the rape victim of Unnao in Uttar Pradesh could not be raised and discussed in the House.

The Speaker said that when the law and order situation of West Bengal had been discussed, all MPs had agreed that state issues should not be raised in the Lok Sabha. He added that he himself would have no problem if the state issues were discussed in the House.

Birla, however, reminded that if the state issues were allowed to be discussed in the Lok Sabha, the matters related to Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh could also be raised in the House.

The opposition parties have been as they accusing the BJP, which is in power at the Centre as well as in Uttar Pradesh, of giving political protection to state legislator Kuldeep Singh who was arrested last year for allegedly raping the woman when she was a minor in 2017. Both Houses of Parliament witnessed protest over the issue earlier this week too.