BJP tenders apology over 'Gaddar' remarks in Parliament

New Delhi, May 6 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday tendered an unconditional apology for alleged remarks made by its member Ananth Kumar in the Lok Sabha against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad.

On Wednesday, certain words used by Kumar during his speech on Census 2011, resulted in a heated debate between him and Lalu Prasad.

As soon as the House met for the day, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj submitted the apology.

"I unconditionally apologise for the remarks made by Ananth Kumar yesterday," she said.

When Prasad sought to intervene, Swaraj said in a lighter vein, "I also apologise on behalf of Laluji also."

"There is a lot of important business to be done in the House. I appeal to members to help in the smooth running of the House," Swaraj added.

Kumar, who was present in the House, however, did not say anything on the matter.

On Wednesday, Kumar had insisted that he had not made the remarks against Prasad and would neither apologise nor withdraw them.

"I will neither apologise nor withdraw my comments," Kumar had said.

Swaraj said Kumar has not denied using both "Gaddar " and "rashtravirodhi" words during his speech.

However, Swaraj maintained that Kumar had not used these two words against Prasad.

She said there was a misunderstanding among the Samajwadi Party (SP), the RJD and other members.

"But one should understand the context in which Kumar mentioned them. Our notice demanding a discussion on Census was against the column 'nationality as declared' in the National Population Register (NPR) form. Gaddar word per se is unparliamentary but not in this context," Swaraj said.

On Wednesday evening, the Lok Sabha was adjourned twice, after Kumar and Prasad had a strong exchange over Bangladeshi's being registered as Indian citizen in the current Census.

Kumar drew the attention of the House to the alleged activities of Bangladeshi refugees and the attempt by illegal migrants to register themselves as Indian citizens.

He asked whether members of the House are with pro-Nationals or with anti nationals, and alleged that the Bangladeshi effort was not happening without the support of some politicians.

This agitated Prasad so much so that he tried to walk over to Kumar, but SP chief Mulayam Singh stopped him. (ANI)