Sloganeering takes over oath-taking in LS

Competitive sloganeering marred the second day of the oath-taking in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, amid the Chair's repeated pleas to desist from it.

Over 200 MPs took oath, taking the total to around 530 in two days, amid chanting of 'Jai Shri Ram', 'Jai Maa Durga' and 'Allahu Akbar' among others.

Senior leaders like UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Mulayam Singh Yadav took oath on the second day. Sonia took oath in Hindi and she was followed by her sister-in-law Maneka Gandhi, a BJP MP. Both greeted each other with folded hands.

Mulayam was brought to the House in a wheelchair by his son Akhilesh Yadav, also an MP, and was allowed to take oath on priority from his seat due to health considerations.

Some of the MPs took oath amid sloganeering from their opponents and most of the TMC MPs faced 'Jai Shri Ram' chants from the Treasury benches when their names were called.

The political heat in West Bengal spilt over on to the floor of the House as TMC MPs countered with slogans like 'Jai Hind', 'Jai Bengal', 'Jai Maa Durga' and 'Jai Mamata'.

One of TMC's senior leaders Kalyan Banerjee recited the 'Durga Path' after concluding his oath. Another TMC MP Abu Taher Khan began his oath with 'Bismillah, ar-Rahman, ar Rahim' and ended with 'Allahu Akbar'.

When Abhishek Banerjee was called, BJP members chanted 'Jai Shri Ram', to which West Bengal Chief Minister's nephew responded saying even Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears not so much popular in the House.

Another MP Aprupa Poddar took oath in Hindi and was applauded for by the BJP members but she said, "don't you know that Hindi is our national language".

Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM MP from Hyderabad, was seen gesturing to BJP MPs to be louder when they chanted 'Jai Shri Ram, Bharat Mata Ki Jai and Vande mataram' as he walked to take the oath. In response, he chanted, "Jai Bheem, Jai (AI)MIM, Takbeer Allahu Akbar, Jai Hind'.

During the process, Samajwadi Party MP Shafiqur Rahman Barq objected to BJP MPs raising 'Vande Mataram', only to draw protests from BJP MPs who demanded an apology.

Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan, MP from Gorakhpur, chanted 'Har Har Mahadev' and 'Guru Gorakhnath Ki Jai.'

Congress president Rahul Gandhi also took a dig at the BJP benches when he asked its MP Arun Kumar Sagar to chant 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' "one more time".

He again repeated "one more time" when Ajay Kumar, another MP, raised it to which the BJP member retorted he will raise the slogan again if Rahul can complete it by chanting 'Jai'. Rahul said "Jai Hind" and was joined by other Congress members.