New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) An unseemly brawl over a religious slogan disrupted the Rajya Sabha after Home Minister P. Chidambaram tabled the report of the Liberhan Commission that probed the 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid.
As the home minister read out a statement tabling the report, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs broke out into cries of “Jai Shri Ram”. This appeared to anger Samajwadi Party (SP) general secretary Amar Singh, who got up and advanced menacingly toward Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) S.S Ahluwalia, waving his right hand at him and objecting to the slogans.

The SP leader seemingly tried to push Ahluwalia but was in turn violently pushed back. Opposition members immediately rushed to push the two apart and in the process, some of them got into their own scuffles.

Prithviraj Chavan, the minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, also ran toward the agitated MPs but could not defuse the situation.

Then, abruptly, Amar Singh turned around and walked back to his seat shouting “Ya Ali”.

In the midst of all this, Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan adjourned the house till 2 p.m. This was the third adjournment of the house since morning — the first time over the Ranganath Misra Commission report on reservations for Dalit Muslims and Christians and then over the corruption scam involving former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda.

As tempers cooled in the house, Ahluwalia looked toward Amar Singh and remarked: “Kamaal hai, Musalmanon ko bachane ke liye, ek Sikh ko maar rahe ho (How ironic, to save Muslims you are beating up a Sikh).”

The analogy was apt as both are minority communities.

Amar Singh later said he was prepared to apologise to Ahluwalia.

“I had only gone to protest, he was the one who pushed me. He is like my brother. I am prepared to apologise to him,” he told reporters in parliament house.

Congress and BJP MPs condemned the incident.

“What happened in the house was very unfortunate. The dignity of the house has been degraded and it is very painful. Elder members of the Samajawadi Party and the BJP were behaving like children,” said Rashid Alvi of the Congress.

BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudi said: “It was a mockery of the house. Whatever happened is not acceptable. It’s an insult to the nation and democracy. Such incidents tarnish the image of political leaders. I really feel insulted.”