Congress leaders spend night in Rajasthan Assembly condemning minister’s ‘Dadi’ comment against Indira Gandhi, suspension

The Rajasthan Assembly witnessed unexpected scenes on Friday when Congress leaders conducted a sit-in protest and spent the night in the assembly premises condemning the suspension of six opposition legislators and BJP Minister Avinash Gehlot’s comments against former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The Rajasthan Assembly suspended six opposition MLAs on Friday, including Rajasthan Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra, Ramkesh Meena, Amin Kagzi, Jakir Hussain, Hakam Ali and Sanjay Kumar for the remainder of the budget session. The disciplinary action was taken against the opposition MLAs after they protested inside the house condemning Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Avinash Gehlot’s comments during the question hour. Government Chief Whip Jogeshwar Garg moved the proposal to remove the Congress MLAs.

Apparently, while responding to a question regarding hostels for working women, the minister said, “In the 2023-24 budget of also, like always, you named the scheme (on working women's hostels) after your 'dadi' (grandmother) Indira Gandhi,” NDTV reported.

The opposition MLAs condemned the remark and stormed the well of the hours. They demanded that the remark must be expunged from assembly records and demanded an apology from the minister. Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully said the minister’s comments were “inappropriate” and they should be removed from the record. However, the Congress leaders continued the protest in the house.

Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot condemned the government and said the BJP government was trying to provoke the opposition. He said, “Those MLAs of the opposition who have been suspended their suspension must end, and the leader of the opposition should be taken into the loop,” ANI reported.