A verbal tiff between the Treasury and Opposition benches gathered all the attention during the second round of oath-taking by members at the commencement of the 17th Lok Sabha on Tuesday. Several parliamentarians were heckled when they were taking oaths in the Parliament.
There were reported chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Allahu Akbar’ and ‘Jai Maa Kali’, and even one MP chanting ‘Inquilab Zindabad,’ as individual MPs came forth to take the oath.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) President Asaduddin Owaisi was met with slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ from the treasury benches when the Hyderabad MP moved to take his oath. Owaisi responded by saying, ‘Jai Bheem, Jai Meem, Takbeer Allahu Akbar, Jai Hind’ after he read out his oath.
Hyderabad AIMIM MP Barrister @asadowaisi takes oath in Lok Sabha. pic.twitter.com/objAfetEu6
— AIMIM Official (@aimim_national) June 18, 2019
‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans were also raised while chairperson Sonia Gandhi took oath in Hindi.
Many have taken to Twitter to express their disdain with this show of ‘majoritarian bullying’.
This makes me sad.
— Dr Pooja Tripathi (@Pooja_Tripathii) June 18, 2019
BJP leaders: You are sitting at holiest of places, parliament
This mandate has not been given to you to bully muslim leaders, to make a mockery of religion.
As a hindu, i am ashamed of you.@asadowaisi kudos for your spirit though. Faced them like a boss https://t.co/20q82L1Opo
Religious Chanting in Parliament while MPs take oath is letting down the drafters of Constitution who (being 85% Hindus) decided against adding word “God” in the Preamble as Parliament has only one religion i.e., Constitution and it’s principles
— Jaiveer Shergill (@JaiveerShergill) June 18, 2019
Targeted heckling of oppn, particularly Muslim MPs; Attempts at intimidation by shouting religious slogans as they take their oaths of office. Majoritarian bullying on the most solemn of constitutional occasions.
— Mihir Sharma (@mihirssharma) June 18, 2019
Grateful to the TMC and DMK MPs who made the hecklers look small
One of the worst days in Indian Parliament.
— Supriya Sharma (@sharmasupriya) June 18, 2019
When religious slogans were turned into political weapons by a ruling party drunk on its majority. https://t.co/GVuC12kaoW
This is extremely worrying when an MP is booed with provocative slogans inside the parliament, the temple of democracy. This is shameful to say the least. These BJP MPs are also doing a great disservice to their religion. https://t.co/5H7n9i0aOr
— Rifat Jawaid (@RifatJawaid) June 18, 2019
In the Indian Parliament, Jai Sri Ram slogans raised when a Muslim MP, Asaduddin Owaisi is about to take oath. How much more brazen can it get ? https://t.co/aOUqNtgCF4
— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) June 18, 2019
And jai shri ram?
— Nazia Erum (@nazia_e) June 19, 2019
Also remember the scene in Bajrangi bhaijaan when the Maulana says 'jai shri ram'? It's not a problem when not used to bully communally.
Here the problem is it's usage in parliament- institutionalisation of communal bullying. What will the young learn? https://t.co/cqvHrOJLeI
How MPs responded to heckling by BJP MPs”
— Aditya Menon (@AdityaMenon22) June 18, 2019
Shafiqur Rehman Barq: “Constitution Zindabad”
ST Hassan: “Hindustan Zindabad”
Asaduddin Owaisi: “Jai Bhim, Allahu Akbar, Jai Hind”
Sonia Gandhi and Azam Khan ignored when they were heckled.
The oath taking ceremony in the Parliament is marred by chanting & sloganeering. Almost all MPs ending their oath with slogans
— Zeba Warsi (@Zebaism) June 18, 2019
Hope our parliamentarians can now rise above sloganeering & get to serious work of nation building. Because that would be true desh bhakti
Jai Hind 🙏🏻
MPs & MLAs have thrown chappals and chairs and here people are surprised there is heckling in Parliament.
— Farzana Versey (@farzana_versey) June 19, 2019
As re. the religious chants in Parliament, you voted for Shri Ram & the mandir. Or you facilitated it with your playing footsie with Sanghis.
This is religious heckling. If this can happen to a seasoned politician like @asadowaisi inside the Parliament, who says this won’t be replicated on the streets?
— Aishwaria (@aishwaria_s) June 19, 2019
Then who’s to blame? Regardless, it’s a blot to the sanctity of our Parliament. https://t.co/rM00CPWa0u
The voices/sloganeering/heckling by these religious facist RSS BJP people now reaches the parliament of India which is extremely concerning and against the decorumof the house. What a sad day for democracy. #India #Parliament
— Danish (@danish319) June 18, 2019
I hope all the BJP supporters will condemn their MPs for heckling opposition MPs and shouting religious slogans inside the parliament. If you secretly admire them for doing so pl be frank about it so that I (not a supporter) can expect more of such behaviour in advance.
— Pratik Gupta (@pratik_p_gupta) June 18, 2019
Reducing a religious chant to a tool of heckling is really shameful. This is what politicisation of religion looks like. And we have to thank the @BJP4India for that. Dear @narendramodi can Indians expect basic decency from BJP MPs in the Parliament? #Owaisi https://t.co/5bZWbBV9Gj
— Abhishek Kumar (@Abhishek__k2712) June 18, 2019
