Giving up its adamant stand, the Bharatiya Janata Party tendered an unconditional apology on Thursday for its member Ananth Kumar's remarks in the Lok Sabha against Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Lalu Prasad during the Census 2011 debate.
As soon as the House met for the day, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj said, "I unconditionally apologise for the remarks made by Ananth Kumar yesterday." When Prasad sought to intervene, Swaraj said in a lighter vein, "I also apologise on behalf of Laluji." "There is a lot of important business to be done in the House. I appeal to members to help in smooth running of the House," she said.
Kumar, who was present in the House, however, did not say anything.
The BJP member had insisted yesterday that he had not made the remarks against Prasad and would neither apologise nor withdraw them. "I will neither apologise nor withdraw my comments," Kumar had told reporters. Swaraj had said Kumar has not denied using both "Gaddar (traitor)" and "rashtravirodhi (anti-national)" words during his presentation in Lok Sabha.
Both Swaraj and Kumar had maintained that the BJP member had not used these two words against Prasad and there was a misunderstanding among the Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and other members. BJP accused these members of getting desperate, thinking Kumar was digressing from the issue. "But one should understand the context in which Kumar mentioned them. Our notice demanding a discussion on Census was against the column 'nationality as declared' in the National Population Register (NPR) form. Gaddar word per se is unparliamentary but not in this context," Swaraj had said.