Fireworks in Rajya Sabha after TMC MP targets Amit Shah

NEW DELHI: The discussion on the working of the

home ministry

in

Rajya Sabha

on Wednesday took a fiery turn with treasury benches strongly protesting "objectionable" remarks made by TMC member Saket Gokhale who, while initiating the debate, took potshots at home minister Amit Shah and the functioning of the ministry.
The RS chairman too took strong objection to what he called Gokhale's repeated "personal observations and remarks" on Shah and called for deletion and expunction of the same from the proceedings. The chairman said he would give his ruling in the matter on Thursday.
Gokhale took on the home ministry and Shah alleging that central agencies like

CBI and NIA

were being controlled and used to attack govts in opposition-governed states and people who disagreed with BJP dispensation at Centre. RS chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar repeatedly intervened, asking Gokhale to withdraw some of his remarks which the latter refused to do, leading the chair to call for deletion of what it termed "unparliamentary" expressions.
"MHA feels that the Union govt is the sole representative of the republic and the states don't mean anything. MHA has become a force for battling against states and any person who tries to disagree with the Union govt," Gokhale said. He took exception to MHA, though a notification, expanding BSF's patrolling jurisdiction on the border in Bengal and Punjab, and said it marked transgression of the authority of states.

He alleged that Bengal was being treated poorly as far as central funds were concerned and that Aparajita Bill passed by West Bengal assembly after brutal rape of a medical student in a Kolkata hospital was still awaiting MHA's approval.
As the TMC member alleged that CBI had filed over 6,900 cases in Bengal, Shah pointed out to the chair that the discussion was on MHA and CBI did not come under the ministry. He went on to assert that Gokhale was misleading the House by giving wrong information and said not all CBI cases the TMC member referred to were corruption cases. "Many of them were related to poll violence registered at the instance of Supreme Court and HC. Victims had approached courts after state govt took no action on their complaints," he said.