The controversy over Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP D.N.V. Senthilkumar’s disparaging reference to the Hindi-speaking States continued to simmer on Wednesday, forcing at least one adjournment of the House, despite a formal apology tendered by the MP on the floor of the Lok Sabha.
During Tuesday’s Lok Sabha debate on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, Mr. Senthilkumar made some objectionable references to Hindi-speaking States which were later expunged from the record.
A day later, Union Ministers Piyush Goyal and Pralhad Joshi demanded that T.R. Baalu, the DMK’s leader in the Lok Sabha, should first apologise for Mr. Kumar’s remarks from the previous day.
Apology demanded
“Baalu ji should apologise first for the kind of remarks made by the DMK member. How can the House run like this? How can any member make any remarks and walk away,” Mr. Goyal said, as other BJP members joined him in protest.
As the din continued, Speaker Om Birla adjourned the House proceedings for 20 minutes, till noon. When the House resumed, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal asked whether Mr. Baalu and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi agreed with the comments.
“Statement made by Senthilkumar was not correct. [Tamil Nadu Chief Minister] M.K. Stalin has warned the particular member,” Mr. Baalu responded.
Soon after, Mr. Kumar, who had posted an apology on X (formerly Twitter) the previous night, also expressed his regret, saying that his remarks had been made “inadvertently” and that “if they have hurt the sentiments of people,” he “withdraws them”.
‘Congress’ divisive agenda’
But this was not the end of the matter. First, Union Minister Anurag Thakur and later, his colleague Rajeev Chandrasekhar held press conferences accusing the Congress of running a divisive agenda.
Mr. Thakur accused the Congress-led Opposition of conspiring to undermine India’s culture, pride, and identity, and playing the politics of regionalism instead of identifying the real cause of the party’s defeat in the State Assembly elections. He questioned what the Congress’ compulsion was in sticking with the DMK, despite the controversial remarks made by its leaders.
Mr. Chandrasekhar also made references to controversial remarks made by Telangana’s Chief Minister-designate, Revanth Reddy, who had said that the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Chandrashekar Rao’s DNA was Bihari, and as a Kurmi, he had migrated to Telangana from that State. “This reflects the divisive agenda and politics of the Congress party, a party that says it wants ‘Bharat Jodo’ (uniting India) but is actually intent on ‘Bharat Todo’ (breaking India),” he said.
