VK Singh's remarks: Rahul Gandhi leads Congress protest outside parliament

New Delhi, Dec 7: Congress MPs led by Rahul Gandhi today staged a protest outside Parliament house demanding removal of Union Minister V K Singh for his "dog" remarks.

Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, party leaders Anand Sharma, Deepender Hooda and several others participated in the protest held shortly before the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha assembled for the day.

Later speaking to reporters, Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia said that they were raising the issue as it was about "the behaviour of a central government minister against a particular community, infact Indians per se".

He said that Government needs to take action and only giving speeches was not enough. Singh had kicked up a storm in October with his comments that the Centre cannot be blamed if somebody throws a stone at a dog to shield it from criticism for the Faridabad Dalit burning incident, prompting opposition to demand his ouster.

Singh, who is Minister of State for External Affairs, has been under opposition fire for allegedly using 'dog analogy' to refute allegations of inaction levelled against the government in the aftermath of two Dalit children being burned alive in Haryana.

The government side has been insisting that Singh had not made any such comment about Dalits and there is no reason for the Opposition to raise the issue.

PTI