Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh came to blows with his old friend and classmate, BJP MP SS Ahluwalia, in Rajya Sabha, on Tuesday, in his desperate bid to win back the party’s Muslim support base after its short honeymoon with former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh. Amar Singh tried to cash in on the Liberhan Commission report but only managed to embarrass the party.
Soon after the Liberhan Commission report was tabled in the Upper House, BJP benches raised “Jai Shri Ram” slogans to protest indictment of their leaders. Never one to miss an opportunity to score brownie points, Amar Singh got up and advanced menacingly toward Ahluwalia, waving his right hand at him and objecting to the slogans.
Amar Singh tried to push Ahluwalia but was violently pushed back. Opposition members rushed to push the two apart and in the process, some of them got into their own scuffles.
Ahluwalia looked toward Amar Singh and remarked, “Kamaal hai, Musalmanon ko bachane ke liye ek Sikh ko maar rahe ho (How ironic, to save Muslims you are beating up a Sikh).” Prithviraj Chavan, minister of state in the PMO, ran towards the agitated MPs but could not defuse the situation. Then, abruptly, Amar Singh turned around and walked back to his seat shouting “Ya Ali”.
Deputy chairman K Rahman Khan adjourned the house till 2 pm.Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari expressed his anguish in strong words. “The unsavoury incident does not bring any credit to this House. As the House of Elders, we are expected by the public to set certain standards,” he said.
When the house reassembled at 2 pm, both Amar Singh and Ahluwalia regretted on what had happened and bent over backwards to go down memory lane.
“We started out our student politics in the Congress together. Whatever happened was most unfortunate. I will ensure it does not happen again but please don’t provoke me again,” Amar Singh said while addressing Ahluwalia by his first name, Surinder.
Ahluwalia was not to be left behind. “You are perhaps forgetting that we studied at Calcutta University together. We started our student politics together. Whatever has happened was most unfortunate,” he said. “Right, now let’s get on with the rest of the business,” Ansari declared, signalling an end to the episode.
The bonhomie was however short-lived. Ahluwalia was heard commenting, “He attacked an MP from a minority community to get the support of another Minority community.” —(With agency inputs)
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