Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan. (Express file photo)In the wake of the uproar by lawmakers across party lines, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will seek an apology from Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan over his objectionable comments against Bihar MP Rama Devi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Friday. Action will be initiated against the SP leader if he fails to apologise, he added.
The decision was taken during a meeting of floor leaders of all parties chaired by the Lok Sabha Speaker.
“The Speaker will ask Azam Khan to apologise over his comments made against Rama Devi without any condition in the House. If he does not do so, the Speaker has been authorised to take action against him,” Joshi said.
The decision came a day after Khan passed a few remarks at Devi during a discussion on the triple talaq bill in Parliament.
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Participating in the debate on the Bill, Khan referred to the intervention of Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and read out a couplet “… tu idhar-udhar ki baat na kar… (do not divert from the topic).” At this, Rama Devi, who was presiding, asked Khan not to “look here and there” and address the Chair, as is the norm of the House. To this, Khan made an objectionable remark, triggering the uproar.
Devi later directed that Khan’s remark be removed from the records. She, however, said she was like his (Khan’s) younger sister.
Union Ministers Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman and Ravi Shankar Prasad were among the leaders who demanded an apology from the SP leader in Lok Sabha. While Prasad demanded Khan’s suspension from the House, Irani called it a “blot” on all legislators. “Azam Khan should either apologise or he should be suspended from House,” Prasad said.
Irani said, “This is a blot on all legislators, including men. We cannot remain silent spectators to it. We have to speak in one voice that this is unacceptable.”
“The entire nation watched yesterday what happened. This House passed the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Bill. I appeal to all to speak in one voice- You cannot misbehave with a woman and get away with it by just dramatizing it,” she added.
