Anurag's caste jibe at Rahul expunged in heated Budget debate

BJP leader Anurag Thakur's apparent reference to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's caste during a discussion on the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday triggered an ugly spat between the opposition and treasury benches.

Gandhi accused Thakur of insulting and abusing him during the debate but asserted that he would not seek any apology from the former Union minister.

Questioning the Congress's stand on caste census, the BJP leader made certain remarks on Gandhi's caste that triggered the uproar and had Congress members trooping into the well of the Lok Sabha.

"Anurag Thakur insulted me and I don't want any apology from him. Abuse or insult me as hard as you can but don't forget we will pass the caste census in this Parliament for sure," the Leader of the Opposition said.

Launching a scathing attack on Gandhi for his "Chakravyuh" jibe at the BJP-led government a day earlier, Thakur cited purported portions from a book authored by Shashi Tharoor to hit out at successive Congress governments since 1947 and alleged the former Congress chief misinterpreted his position of LoP as "leader of propaganda".

Thakur also took a jibe at Gandhi, who stood up twice to counter his remarks targeting the previous Congress governments.

The BJP MP from Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur claimed that Gandhi had already made his remarks but sought permission to speak again after someone passed a chit to him.

"Udhaar ki buddhi se rajniti nahi chalti (you can't indulge in politics on borrowed wisdom)," Thakur said.

The former Union minister said one of the synonyms for lotus is Rajiv, the name of Rahul Gandhi's father and former prime minister.

"You linked lotus with violence. Does that mean you also link Rajiv with violence," the BJP member asked.

Accusing Gandhi of criticising the lotus, the BJP's election symbol, he said, "Goddess Lakshmi is seated on a lotus, our national flower too is lotus, Lord Shiva statue was also found seated in the lotus formation (Padmasana) and Lokmanya Tilak also breathed his last sitting in Padmasana posture. So next time you criticise the lotus, just remember who all you are targeting."

Thakur called Gandhi an "accidental" Hindu and advised him not to be a "reel" leader.

"There are many memes about you. To become a real leader, you have to speak the truth," he added.

The BJP member said Gandhi's knowledge about Mahabharata too could be accidental and might have referred to the texts written by "Uncle Sam" or someone might have handed him a note.

Thakur alleged that the definition of OBCs for the Congress is "Only Brother-in-law Commission" and not Other Backward Classes. He also referred to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's opposition to reservation for OBCs.

Jagdambika Pal, who was in the chair, said Thakur's remarks on caste stand expunged.

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav questioned Thakur for his statement and described it as inappropriate. "How can you ask anybody's caste," he asked.

Pal said nobody in the House was allowed to ask the caste of any person.

The BJP member claimed that Gandhi was using "borrowed wisdom" to make speeches in an attempt to be a "cool dude".

Citing excerpts from Tharoor's book The Great Indian Novel, Thakur attacked successive prime ministers from the Congress using abbreviations, including "N-Ji, IG and RG-1".

At this point, Tharoor intervened and said Thakur's repeated references were from a satirical novel written years ago and the BJP leader did not understand the satire.

Thakur said the Congress had laid several "Chakravyuh' for the country -- the Partition, the imposition of Emergency, the Bofors scam and anti-Sikh riots, the narrative against the eternal religion (Sanatan) and hurting the politics of the country, its culture and traditions.

He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought the country out of the "Chakravyuh" of the Congress.

Thakur said the Congress and its leaders tried to trap Modi for the last 22 years, starting from his days as the chief minister of Gujarat.

"Your governments and leaders were defeated trying to trap him because he resides in the hearts of the people," the BJP leader said.

Referring to Gandhi's remarks on the halwa ceremony ahead of the budget, Thakur referred to a series of scams, including Bofors, CWG, 2G, fodder, urea, coal, jeep and National Herald, and sought to know "who ate the halwa from the scams".

During his speech in the Lok Sabha on Monday, Gandhi displayed a photo of the halwa ceremony that precedes the printing of the budget, saying there was no Dalit, Adivasi or Backward Class person in the photo.

He said 20 officers worked on preparing the country's budget and of them, only one was from the minority community and one from the OBC category.