‘Hug’ gets mixed response
The jury is still out on Congress President Rahul Gandhi surprising Prime Minister Modi with a hug in the Lok Sabha on Friday immediately after a blistering attack on him during the debate on the no-confidence motion.
He is hero of the young generation praising to hilt his act on the social media since Friday, but most of the Congress seniors are quite upset over his conduct, endorsing Speaker Sumitra Mahajan's reprimand that his conduct goes against the parliamentary decorum.
The senior Congress leaders say Rahul's conduct was a "disaster" as he washed out all that he said in the debate by hugging Modi, sending a wrong signal as if wanting to pardon all his (Modi’s) crimes. One leader said he would certainly punish his son if he hugs an anti-social element with his known criminal background.
When told that youths are hailing Rahul for this single act and not for the lengthy speech he delivered, another Congress leader said these people are apolitical, most of whom are the followers of Modi as they do not believe PM can do any wrong and hence they are only rejoicing that even Rahul hugs their hero. Moreover, he said Rahul should know that he is now the president of a grand old party who should be very careful in his conduct and not behave childishly just for sending out a message.
A debate also kicked off
The senior Congress leaders say Rahul's conduct was a "disaster" as he washed out all that he said in the debate by hugging Modi.
among the security officials in Parliament after the Special Protection Group (SPG) expressed concern over the security risks to the Prime Minister in the House as its commandos always provide him the protection but not when he is in the House.
A SPG official said there are MPs in the House with the criminal antecedents and hence the worry of the force created after assassination of Indira Gandhi is that some mechanism will have to be created quickly to provide the protection cover not only to PM Modi but also to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Dr Manmohan Singh who are also the SPG protectees.
Nobody is allowed with firearms in the House but Friday's incident has triggered the need for a review to prevent any untoward incident in the House with the PM or for that matter with the Speaker or any MP, an official said.