Govt says no inflammatory comments by Katheria
KATHERIA CHAOS Congress, SP lead attack on government’s ‘hypocrisy’
Opposition trains guns at RS Katheria but home minister Rajnath Singh says his office examined the speech found nothing inflammatory.
NEW DELHI: A united Opposition flayed the government in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday for failing to take action against ministers for alleged hate speeches but the Centre said no inflammatory comments were made by junior HRD minister RS Katheria.
Home minister Rajnath Singh told Parliament that his office had thoroughly examined Katheria’s alleged hate speech and found there was nothing that could be called inflammatory.
Speaking at a condolence meeting for VHP leader Arun Mahaur in Agra last week, the junior HRD minister was reported to have said there was “a conspiracy being hatched against Hindus” and called for revenge.
“Three people, who shared the stage with Katheria, have been charged in an FIR filed by the Agra police, and if he had made the inflammatory speech, then his name would have been first on the list,” the home minister said.
Firing her salvo at the government for not acting against Katheria, who she asserted should have been dismissed, BSP’s Mayawati was unsparing of the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh for not being proactive in slapping sedition charges against the minister. “It is unfortunate that the SP government did not take action against the minister. It should have filed sedition charges against him. If we were in power, our party would have taken immediate action,” Mayawati said.
Rajnath deflected questions on the action the government had taken against elected representatives in Parliament and state assemblies who had made comments targeting the minorities.
Leader of the Opposition, Ghulam Nabi Azad, read a long list of “hate speech” statements made by the BJP’s elected representatives and asked what stopped the government from booking them on sedition charges. “An innocent boy Kanhaiya has been booked for sedition, what about these MPs, doesn’t sedition apply to them?” Azad questioned, urging the government to also take action against “Muslim parties” that had been making speeches to polarise voters.
The home minister’s effort to reach out to the Opposition did not cut ice. Nominated member Anu Aga said some Sangh Parivar leaders had allegedly sought to take “revenge on the minority community for the killing of a VHP leader”, and made a fervent plea for preserving the unity, sanity and diversity of the country.