Uproar in Rajya Sabha over caste statements

CONGRESS MEMBER SAYS SHE FACED DISCRIMINATION AT DWARKA TEMPLE

The Rajya Sabha yesterday saw uproar and repeated adjournments after Ministers Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal disputed claims by Congress member Kumari Selja that she had faced discrimination because of her caste in a temple in western Indian state Gujarat a few years back.

To counter Selja, who had made the claim in the House on Monday, while participating in a debate on the Constitution, Jaitley produced a page of the visitors’ book of Dwarkadheesh temple, in which she had lauded the “excellent” arrangements.

Deadlock

The House remained deadlocked over the issue for most part of the day with the Congress, supported by some other opposition parties, insisting that the ruling side should withdraw the comments made against Selja and apologise.

As Congress members shouted slogans against the government and disrupted proceedings, Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien called leaders of various parties to his chamber to find a solution after adjourning the House for some time. Those who attended the meeting included Jaitley, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and leaders of some other parties besides Selja. However, no solution emerged and the matter was put off to today as the House wanted to take up the issue of Tamil Nadu floods on urgent basis.

As soon as the House met for the day at 11 am, Jaitley, Finance Minister and Leader of the House, referred to the issue and said Selja had, in fact, said very “complimentary words” during her visit to the Dwarka temple in February 2013.