'Dog' remarks: Rahul leads Cong protest against V K Singh outside Parl

Congress members of Parliament led by Rahul Gandhi on Monday staged a protest outside Parliament House demanding removal of Union Minister V K Singh for his "dog" remarks.

Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Anand Sharma, Deepender Hooda and several others participated in the protest held shortly before the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha assembled for the day.

Later speaking to media persons, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said that they were raising the issue as it was about "the behaviour of a Central government minister against a particular community, in fact Indians per se".

He said that the government needs to take action and only giving speeches was not enough.

Singh had kicked up a storm in October with his comments that the Centre cannot be blamed if somebody throws a stone at a dog to shield it from criticism for the Faridabad Dalit burning incident, prompting opposition to demand his ouster.

Singh, who is minister of state for external affairs, has been under opposition fire for allegedly using 'dog analogy' to refute allegations of inaction levelled against the government in the aftermath of two Dalit children being burned alive in Haryana.

The government side has been insisting that Singh had not made any such comment about Dalits and there is no reason for the Opposition to raise the issue.

Meanwhile, defending Union Minister V K Singh, the government on Monday rejected the opposition charge that he had made anti-Dalit remarks and said it was unfortunate that Congress was bent on giving political colour to the matter.

Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy said that Singh is being "traumatised" for a statement that he has not made.

"Rahulji wakes up suddenly and starts some programme. V K Singh has not made any such statement," he told reporters in New Delhi.

Rudy said that Singh respects the Constitution and held that he had not said anything what was being attributed to him.

"Rahulji wants to do give this issue a political colour. It is unfortunate that a statement not made by someone is attributed to a minister. He is traumatised for that. This is not correct," Rudy said.

Rahul, Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Anand Sharma, Deepender Hooda and several others participated in the protest against Singh's "dog" remarks held shortly before the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha assembled for the day.

Singh, who is Minister of State for External Affairs, had kicked up a storm in October with his comments that the Centre cannot be blamed if somebody throws a stone at a dog to shield it from criticism for the Faridabad Dalit burning incident, prompting opposition to demand his ouster.