New Delhi: Amid a major political row over Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on Bhimrao Ambedkar, slogans of 'Jai Bhim' reverberated in Rajya Sabha on Thursday morning. Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar had hardly settled down when the opposition members started chanting 'Jai Bhim' while members of the treasury benches raised 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan in the House.
Members of the treasury benches also started raising slogans of 'Jai Bhim'. They and their counterparts in the opposition benches sought to outdo each other in raising 'Jai Bhim' while seeking to appropriate Ambedkar's legacy. Just as the proceedings were about to begin, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge stood up from his seat, raised both his hands and shouted 'Jai Bhim' three times. Other opposition MPs also repeated it in one voice each time.
The Chair tried to pacify Kharge and other opposition MPs with gesture of his hand and went on to extend birthday greetings to veteran BJP MP Ghanshyam Tiwari. BJP MP Neeraj Shekhar responded back with 'Jai Bhim' slogans repeated by his fellow MPs in a much louder and stronger voice. They also chanted 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.
The House ran for about 10 minutes with regular tabling of papers when Dhankhar said he received four notices, three of them from AAP MP Sanjay Singh, Congress MP Randeep Surjewala and CPI(M) MP John Brittas, demanding a discussion on the statement made by Home Minister Amit Shah on Ambedkar.
As the Chair did not approve the notices under Rule 267, Congress MP Randeep Surjewala said Ambedkar was never insulted "like this" before. Dhankhar adjourned the House till 2 pm amid slogans of 'Jai Bhim' being raised mainly by the members of the opposition parties.
When the House reassembled at 2 pm, it was again adjourned till 11 am on Friday after about seven minutes of proceedings amid sloganeering of 'Jai Bhim', mainly from the opposition benches.
