Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MP Danish Ali on Friday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to protest against a notice from the Privileges Committee in which the panel asked him to appear before it on December 7 and give oral evidence for “alleged misconduct during a discussion on the Chandrayaan-3 mission in the House”.
Expressing shock at the committee clubbing his complaint against BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri for hurling communal slurs along with complaints against him by BJP MPs, Mr. Ali said there is now “a sad attempt to create a diversion by turning the victim to an accused”.
“Sir, at the outset I would like to express my shock over clubbing my complaint with the concocted, baseless and diversionary allegations drummed up by Shri Ramesh Bidhuri, against whom my prior and original complaint dated September 22, 2023, was lodged,” Mr. Ali said in his letter.
His letter was in response to a November 21 notice from an official of the Privileges and Ethics branch of the Lok Sabha Secretariat, asking him to confirm his appearance before the panel.
On the last day of the special session of Parliament in September, Mr. Bidhuri and Mr. Ali were engaged in a bitter face-off. The BSP MP later lodged a complaint with the Speaker’s office against Mr. Bidhuri for using “offensive language”.
‘Travesty of justice’
“This is outrageous. It would be a travesty of justice if the Committee of Privileges fails to act against Shri Bidhuri by taking refuge in the fabricated, malicious and clearly afterthought complaints against me,” Mr. Ali said in his letter to Mr. Birla.
“He called me bhadwa (pimp), katwa (derogatory reference to my Muslim identity), mullah ugravadi (Muslim extremist) and atankvadi (terrorist). I had lodged the complaint with you against Shri Bidhuri hoping for a swift, strict and exemplary action by you so as to prevent repeat of the ugly language by any member in the sanctum sanctorum of Indian democracy,” the BSP MP added.
Though Mr. Bidhuri’s comments were expunged from the records, several Opposition leaders wrote to Mr. Birla, pressing for action against Mr. Bidhuri. When the Speaker referred the matter to the Privileges Committee, the BJP’s Nishikant Dubey filed a counter-complaint against Mr. Ali and accused him of making “highly objectionable and blasphemous remarks against the Prime Minister”.
Denying it in his letter, Mr. Ali urged the Speaker to circulate the video footage from that day, along with its transcripts, among members of the Committee of Privileges. “This would expose the lies being propagated and help clarify matters by identifying the real culprit. The matter concerns protecting the dignity of the House and therefore I request you go strictly by the records of the House and take a swift decision based on facts,” he said.
