House acrimony goes from face-off to dust-up

In an unparalleled deterioration of decorum, the BJP and the Congress on Thursday engaged in bitter clashes, levelled allegations of assault, and filed contrasting police complaints

- Smriti Kak Ramachandran

When government and Opposition lawmakers started gathering in the Parliament complex on Thursday morning, tensions were simmering. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) legislators had already clashed in a high-voltage face-off on Wednesday over BR Ambedkar's legacy and walked into the premises with portraits and posters about India's first law minister.

At 10am, a group of NDA MPs with placards assembled near the Makar Dwar, the entrance to Parliament reserved for lawmakers to begin their protest over the Congress's alleged disrespect towards Ambedkar.

A few metres away where a statue of Ambedkar stood obscured by the winter fog, Opposition members trooped in, shouting slogans against Union home minister Amit Shah's statement in the Rajya Sabha earlier this week on Ambedkar, and demanded his apology.

By 10.30am, the Parliament House precinct was reverberating with slogans of "Ambedkar ka apmaan, nahi sahega Hindustan (India won't tolerate Ambedkar's insult)...Jai Bhim...Maafi Maango (say sorry)".

As the decibel rose, it became difficult to tell which group was raising what slogans.

While BJP MPs stayed put at the entrance to the Makar Dwar, a spot that till Wednesday was being used by the Opposition to mount their protest; INDIA bloc members shouted slogans and carried placards in a march around the old Parliament building.

By 10.40am, the political opponents were closing in on each other. Tensions were rising as was the noise. There was pushing and jostling as MPs lined up to give quick bytes to harried reporters.