Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: After Rahul Gandhi concluded his speech in Lok Sabha on Friday ‘posing a puzzle’ for MPs to consider “what happened on April 16”, BJP’s Nishikant Dubey got up to counter the Congress neta saying it is April 17 that is significant.Gandhi had already left the Parliament by then despite former Cabinet minister Anurag Thakur raising a House rule that binds a speaker, after he concludes, to be present and listen to the next speaker.“It was on this day that Rajiv Gandhi was accused in the Bofors (bribery) scandal,” Dubey began, reminding Congress of its “dark history”.“On April 17, 1998, who pulled down the dhoti of Sitaram Kesri ji, the Congress president from the backward class? Who shoved him out of the party’s Akbar Road headquarters?” Dubey asked.He referred to an instance involving SP MP Yashvir Singh being “beaten by Sonia Gandhi” in this House in the well while opposing SC/ST quota bill. “Congress has always insulted women, backward classes, and Dalits; today it opposed women’s reservation bill — parties supporting Congress should learn from Cong’s history. In India, all people have progressed through hard work, but Congress wants to progress by dividing the nation,” he added.Concluding his speech, which was interspersed with protests from the treasury benches objecting to his remarks, Gandhi said he wanted to pose a puzzle for “all of you”.“Yesterday, PM was low on energy. Suddenly, I noticed it was the 16th of April. My God, how crazy! The number: Sixteen. The whole answer to the riddle is 16. If anybody understands this, they should send me a message,” Gandhi said.
