New Delhi: Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday accused Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and other Congress leaders of creating an environment in the House that disrespects the memory of Chaudhary Charan Singh, thereby causing distress to farmers across the country.
Dhankhar added that such behaviour should induce a sense of shame. "You virtually insulted Chaudhary Charan Singh; you insulted his legacy. You had no time for Bharat Ratna Chaudhary Charan Singh. You are hurting every farmer in the country by creating such an environment inside the House on the issue of Chaudhary Charan Singh. Our heads should go in shame," the Rajya Sabha Chairman said.
Dhankhar added, "Don't use this language. I will not tolerate insults to Chaudhary Charan Singh. He stands for impeccable public life, unimpeachable integrity, and commitment to farmers...I have seen with my eyes ruckus, chaos, condemnation, shouting and sloganeering."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday that the former Prime Minister of the country, Chaudhary Charan Singh, will be conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour.
Charan Singh was born in 1902 in Noorpur, in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh, in a middle-class peasant family. He graduated in science in 1923 and did his post-graduation at Agra University in 1925. Also trained in law, he set up practice in Ghaziabad. He shifted to Meerut in 1929 and later joined the Congress.
He was first elected to the UP Legislative Assembly in 1937 from Chhaprauli and represented the constituency in 1946, 1952, 1962 and 1967. He became Parliamentary Secretary in Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant's Government in 1946 and worked in various departments such as Revenue, Medical and Public Health, Justice, information, etc.
In June 1951, he was appointed Cabinet Minister in the State and given charge of the Departments of Justice and Information. Later, he took over as the Minister for Revenue and Agriculture in the Cabinet of Sampurnanand in 1952. When he resigned in April 1959, he was holding charge of the Department of Revenue and Transport.
In CB Gupta's Ministry, he was Minister for Home and Agriculture (1960). Charan Singh served as Minister for Agriculture and Forests (1962-63) in Sucheta Kripalani's Ministry. He gave up the Department of Agriculture in 1965 and assumed charge of the Local Self-Government Department in 1966.
Today is the last session of the ongoing budget session of Parliament. This is the last session of the current Lok Sabha before the general elections, which are likely to be held in April-May this year.
The budget session initially scheduled to conclude on February 9 was extended by a day. (ANI)
