Anurag Thakur’s Remarks In LS Worst Possible Taste Says Shashi Tharoor
NEW DELHI : After Union Minister Anurag Thakur stirred a political storm in the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday said that instead of answering to objections raised by the Opposition, the Union Minister delivered a political speech in “worst possible taste”.
Tharoor also stressed that this government doesn’t want to hold any discussion or face criticism, and just want to clear its bills without any objection.
Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned four times in a row following a fierce war or words that broke out in the lower house between treasury and opposition members over remarks made by minister of state for finance Anurag Thakur on the Nehru-Gandhi family, leading to the first adjournment of the lower house during the monsoon session of Parliament.
Reacting to Anurag Thakur’s Nehru remark, Shashi Tharoor said, “Instead of answering to the objection raised (on PM CARES Fund), Union Minister Anurag Thakur proceeded to deliver a political speech in the worst possible taste and started attacking everybody from Gandhi, Nehru to present-day Gandhi family which was not relevant.”
Tharoor alleged the comment was part of the government’s attempts to divert attention from real issues.
“Today was a very unfortunate day. “This is an attempt by the government to distract the nation and the Parliament from real issues being raised. They don’t want discussion and face opposition criticism. All they are interested in is rushing their bills without any objection,” added the Congress MP.
Tharoor’s comments have come hours after Anurag Thakur questioned India’s first PM Jawaharlal Nehru’s decision to create Prime Minister’s National Relief in 1948. He went on to allege that Nehru and Sonia Gandhi have been members of PM’s National Relief Fund and demanded a debate on it.
In the Lok Sabha,Thakur said, “Opposing PM Cares Fund, just for the sake of it, is like they opposed EVMs and then lost many elections. They subsequently termed Jan Dhan, demonetisation, Triple Talaq and GST as bad. They find a defect in everything, truth is their intention is defected.”
He then trained guns at Nehru-Gandhi family saying, “Nehru ji ordered the creation of Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund in 1948 like a royal order but its registration has not been done even till today. How did it get FCRA clearance?.”
“PM CARES Fund is a public charitable trust which has been set up for the people of India. You (Opposition) created trusts for Gandhi family. Nehru and Sonia Gandhi have been members of PM’s National Relief Fund. There should be a debate on this,” he added.
The ruckus began when Congress leader Manish Tewari said it would have been more appropriate if PM CARES Fund would have been created through legislation rather than as a public trust since it has the name ‘PM’ attached to it.
Mr Tharoor said when the focus should be on COVID-19 and Chinese aggression, the BJP is wasting time “on the political abuse of one family which is not even present in the House”. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son, MP Rahul Gandhi, are currently abroad for her treatment.
“To my mind, this is a sheer attempt by the government to distract the nation and parliament from real issues being raised,” the Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram said.
The Congress claims the government has not been divulging details of the expenditure from the fund, which was established earlier this year and received donations for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
“Who is this boy from Himachal,” Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury lashed out at Mr Thakur. “How did Nehru come into this debate? Did we take (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi’s name? This two-bit chhokra…”
The Congress, demanding an apology from Mr Thakur, staged a walkout. While Mr Thakur didn’t issue an apology, he later said: “I am pained if my words hurt anybody.”
