When opposition parliamentarians interrupted Amit Shah's speech over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's absence on Wednesday, the Union Home Minister told them that they have to "deal with him first". Eventually, the Congress-led MPs staged a walkout.
Opposition MPs insisted that PM Modi should be present in the House to give answers to their questions. Shah responded to the uproard, saying the PM is in his office and would be present in House for lengthy discussions. However, he asserted that they had no authority to decide who replies to their questions on behalf of the government.
"It was decided in the Business Advisory Committee that the discussion would go on for as long as the opposition wanted, but who will reply — that will be decided by the government and Prime Minister Modi," Shah said.
He then went on to say, "You have to deal with me first. Why do you want to call the PM? You will have more difficulty," Shah added.
While the Home Minister resumed his speech, the opposition MPs got up from their seats and raised slogans. Soon, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, stated that if Modi is not coming to the House despite being on Parliament premises, then it is an insult to the Rajya Sabha."
Shah then pointed out the opposition's hypocrisy, claiming that the Congress often never allows its chief Mallikarjun Kharge to speak.
The Home Minister, during his speech, alleged that the priority of Congress is politics and not national security, claiming that the party is indulging in the politics of votebank and appeasement.
He then said the identity of the three slain terrorist in Operation Mahadev has clearly established that Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the Pahalgam attack.
Shah said people wanted the Pahalgam perpetrators to be shot in the head and the forces did exactly the same. “Such barbaric crime never happened where religion was asked before killing people in front of women, children,” he added.