New Delhi:

The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police will investigate the First Information Report (FIR) against Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who has been accused of injuring two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs at the Parliament complex, an officer said on Friday.

Besides, the crime branch will probe a counter-case filed by the Congress against members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in connection with the face-off between the two sides on Thursday, the officer added.

“The crime branch will now investigate the two cases,” the officer said.

Mr Gandhi has been booked under sections 117 (voluntary causing grievous hurt), 115 (voluntary causing hurt), 125 (act of endangering life or personal safety of others), 131 (use of criminal force), 351 (criminal intimidation), and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. 

On Thursday, ugly scenes unfolded between the Opposition and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs at the Parliament steps, during protests over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s alleged insult to B R Ambedkar in the House on Tuesday. A tussle between the two sides left former minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput injured.

Both leaders, one of whom is 69 years old, are in the hospital.

Mr Sarangi claimed that he got injured after Mr Gandhi pushed Mr Rajput. They were standing on the stairs when Mr Rajput allegedly fell on him. “Rahul Gandhi pushed a member of Parliament who fell on me after which I fell down…I was standing near the stairs when Rahul Gandhi came and pushed an MP who then fell on me…” Mr Sarangi had said. 

Various leaders of the BJP subsequently accused Mr Gandhi of hooliganism – allegations the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha has denied. 

Later on Thursday, former Union Minister and BJP MP Anurag Thakur, and party lawmakers Bansuri Swaraj and Hemang Joshi, filed a complaint against the Congress leader, and, among other things, accused him of attempt to murder. 

The opposition party, however, strongly rejected the claim and alleged that BJP MPs pushed Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and “physically manhandled” Mr Gandhi. “Now they are accusing us of shoving them,” Mr Kharge said on Thursday.

A delegation of Congress MPs, including Digvijaya Singh, Mukul Wasnik, Rajiv Shukla and Pramod Tiwari, also filed a police complaint. In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, several Congress MPs asked him to initiate an inquiry into the incident.

New Delhi:

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi – whose scorching speech in Parliament Monday, which triggered a furious pushback from the BJP and interventions, twice, from Prime Minister Narendra Modi – wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla this morning to question the expunging of parts of that address.

Mr Gandhi acknowledged the Speaker’s authority to “expunge certain remarks” but argued this power ought only to be exercised to strike out “those kinds of words… the nature of which have been specified in Rule 380 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha”.

“I am, however, shocked to note the manner in which considerable portions of my speech have been simply taken off from the proceedings under the garb of expunction. I am enclosing relevant portions of uncorrected Debates of Lok Sabha dated July 2… constrained to state the portions expunged do not come under the ambit of Rule 380,” the Congress leader told Mr Birla.

“What I sought to convey in the House is ground reality… the factual position… every member of the House who personifies the collective voice of the people whom he or she represents has freedom of speech…. it is every member’s right to raise people’s concerns on the floor of the House.”

“I am writing this in the context of remarks and portions expunged from my speech during discussion on Motion of Thanks on the President Address on 1 July 2024.”

Here is LoP Shri @RahulGandhi‘s letter to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. pic.twitter.com/3Cepk0TtMy

— Congress (@INCIndia) July 2, 2024

“It is that right… I was exercising yesterday. Taking off from records my considered remarks goes against the very tenets of parliamentary democracy,” Mr Gandhi wrote.

The Congress leader also flagged a speech by Union Minister Anurag Thakur, which he said was “full of allegations” had only seen one word removed. “… This selective expunction defies logic,” he said.

“Lie And If You Get Fact-Checked…”

BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla has responded to Rahul Gandhi’s letter, accusing the Congress MP of playing the “victim card” and claiming “crores of Hindus are violent”.

#WATCH | Delhi: On Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla says, “There is a new trend in Rahul Gandhi’s world. Lie, and if you get fact-checked, play the victim card… Congress Party is writing letters and saying out loud… pic.twitter.com/vUEpLXMSGd

— ANI (@ANI) July 2, 2024

“There is a new trend in Rahul Gandhi’s world. Lie, and if you get fact-checked, play victim card. The Congress is writing letters and saying out loud ‘Hindus are violent’. They are standing with this statement. They are saying crores of Hindus are ‘violent. This is that section which cannot speak ‘Islamist terror’… but they speak (of) ‘Hindu terror’… ” Mr Poonawalla raged.

Rahul Gandhi’s Parliament Speech

Sections of Mr Gandhi’s first speech as the Leader of the Opposition were struck down this morning, including comments about Mr Modi and the BJP, and the latter’s ideological mentor, the RSS.

READ | To Rahul Gandhi’s Jab At BJP, A Response From RSS

Comments about alleged irregularities in the NEET medical entrance tests and the Agnipath military recruitment scheme (he was fact-checked by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh) were also removed.

READ | BJP Alleges Rahul Insulted Hindus, Parts Of Speech Expunged

Among other points raised, Mr Gandhi had demanded an immediate debate on the NEET row.

Mr Gandhi’s no-holds-barred jabs provoked Mr Modi – who does not usually intervene when an opposition leader is speaking in Parliament – to stand up twice.

BJP Hits Back At Rahul Gandhi

The BJP’s immediate fightback also included Home Minister Amit Shah demanding an apology, while his cabinet colleagues Kiren Rijiju and Ashwini Vaishnaw led a considered rebuttal in the evening.

READ | 2 Ministers, MP Lead Fightback Against Rahul Gandhi’s Speech

Mr Vaishnaw and Mr Rijiju, and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi, accused Mr Gandhi of belittling his post and of making an “extremely irresponsible speech” that inflicted a “grave insult” on Hindus.

Mr Modi is due to respond to Rahul Gandhi’s speech; he will speak in the Lok Sabha this evening and is expected to address the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

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