NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha witnessed heated exchanges between the Treasury and Opposition benches on Wednesday, with Congress MPs later approaching Speaker Om Birla to lodge a formal complaint against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey for allegedly making derogatory remarks against party general secretary K C Venugopal.
The Opposition MPs also sought the expunction of Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju’s remarks branding them anti-Lord Ram from the Lok Sabha records.
Ruckus erupted as soon as the House reassembled at 2 pm after an adjournment, as opposition members continued sloganeering and refused to heed the Chair’s pleas to discuss the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act, 2026.
Amid the disruptions, the Bill was put to vote without discussion and passed by a voice vote. The legislation recognises digital bank records as admissible evidence in courts.
Responding to the sloganeering, Rijiju made a remark against Venugopal, prompting objections from the Opposition benches. The remark was later expunged from the records. Rijiju also accused the Congress, the communist parties and Samajwadi Party of being against Lord Ram and demanded that they apologise to the nation.
Later, speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Venugopal said, “Kiren Rijiju, under instructions from the Speaker, spoke against the Congress party, Samajwadi Party and Opposition parties. During that, he spoke untruthfully. Instead of giving time, he started ridiculing me. How can the Chair do this? If he wants to become a big ‘bhakt’ of Narendra Modi, then he can do it another way but not in this way. We never expected this kind of behaviour from the Chair,” he said.
Rijiju accused the Opposition of coming to the House to disrupt proceedings and not for discussion. He slammed leaders for performing skits to protest alleged theft of donations at Ayodhya’s Ram Temple.
Protests forced the adjournment of the Lok Sabha after passage of the Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill. Birla said protesting members had not allowed the Question Hour to function since the Monsoon Session began on July 20.
Earlier in the morning, Opposition MPs took out a protest march in the Parliament complex, demanding Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement on alleged police excesses against students, a discussion on “misappropriation” of Ram temple donations.
Opposition MPs, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, also marched from the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Prerna Sthal to Makar Dwar.