Union Minister Smriti Irani, who spoke immediately after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s speech in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, said it was the first time in parliamentary history that someone made such a statement about Bharat Mata (Mother India).
As Opposition members started chanting “Rahul” interspersed with INDIA, to refer to the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance, soon after Mr. Gandhi had finished his speech, an angry Ms. Irani shot back, “You are not India for India is not corrupt. India believes in merit not dynasty. You define corruption and incompetence”.
In an equally fierce response, Ms. Irani said Bharat Mata had always stood tall in the face of attack, be it from the Mughal empire and colonial powers.
This is the first time in Parliament’s history that someone talked about Bharat Mata in such a way, and Congress leaders were thumping the desks, Ms. Irani said, adding that the comment showed who they were.
Asserting that Manipur is “an integral part of India,” she added, “A member of his [Opposition] alliance said in Tamil Nadu that India only means north India. If he has the courage, Rahul Gandhi should comment on this. Another Congress leader said there should be a referendum on Kashmir. Was the statement given as per the order of the Congress leadership that a leader talked about a referendum in Kashmir?”
In a counter-offensive, Ms. Irani accused the Congress leader of trying to take “political advantage” by effecting a mass upsurge and alleged that he had travelled abroad to seek support.
At the end of her speech, that went on for over an hour, she said the BJP would return to power in 2024 and “desh, tijori ki chabi unki mata ji ko nahi degi [People will not again give the keys of the treasury to his mother].”
Violence against women
Ms. Irani raised the issue of violence against women during the 1975 Emergency, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and the violence against Pandits in Kashmir. “Their history is soaked in blood,” the Union Minister for Women and Child Development said.
Talking about a brutal gangrape and murder in Rajasthan and the rape of a 60-year-old woman in front of her grandchild in West Bengal, Ms. Irani asked why the Opposition leaders didn’t raise these issues of violence against women in these States.
The Union Minister also targeted the Congress over the Adani Group and listed how State governments — from Congress governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh to other Opposition-ruled States like West Bengal and Kerala — had all welcomed the group. She added that the Mundra port in Gujarat was given to the group when the Congress was in power.
