Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan. (Express photo by Vishal Srivstav)Warned of strict action for his objectionable remarks in Lok Sabha, Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan Monday apologised to senior BJP member Rama Devi.
“I did not have any wrong feelings towards the Chair. The whole House is aware of my conduct. Despite all this, if the Chair thinks my statements were derogatory, I apologise,” Khan said.
His apology, however, triggered an uproar in the House during zero hour. Speaker Om Birla accepted Khan’s apology and asked him not to repeat it. Birla said, “Azam Khan has tendered an apology and all members must maintain decorum so that no such incident takes place in future.”
Khan’s remarks were expunged from the records following an immediate uproar in the House on July 25. Pressure mounted on Khan to make an unqualified apology after the issue was raised against during zero hour on Friday.
Several women members had spoken out against the Rampur MP for his objectionable remarks.
Union Minister Smriti Irani said Khan’s remarks were a blot on all legislators, including men. Irani said: “This is not a House where men come to gaze into the eyes of any woman. It is a privilege to speak in this House. If such disrespectful remarks were made against a woman outside, then she would have sought police protection, and even got it…. We cannot stay quiet and watch.”
Other MPs who demanded action against Khan included Kalyan Banerjee (TMC), Rajeev Ranjan (JD-U), Nama Nageswar Rao and ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Babul Supriyo and Anurag Thakur of the BJP.
Congress floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary said his party does not tolerate disrespect to women whether, either in the House or outside. As he said that in the past, Sonia Gandhi had been referred to as “Italy ki kathputli (puppet)”, BJP members shouted him down. Irani shot back, saying she has been the subject of such remarks repeatedly.
