Scindia comment row: Sumitra Mahajan says her office made mistake in recording statement

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Wednesday admitted that her office had made certain mistakes in recording the statement regarding the alleged remarks by some BJP members against Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia two days ago.

The Congress leader had alleged that BJP MPs Veerendra Kumar, Manohar Utwal and Nand Kumar Chauhan had levelled certain "baseless allegations" against him that pertained to the Dalit community. Mentioning the issue during the Zero Hour, Mahajan said Veerendra Kumar had not made any direct allegation against Scindia. "Is mein thodisi galti hamari office kee bhi thi (There was some mistake on the part of my office)," Mahajan said, adding that certain deletions were made by the office in the "uncorrected statement" amidst the din.

"When I had asked the officers to delete the names, they had by mistake deleted the entire sentence," she said. Scindia then said the context was "about me", but could not be heard any further in the din. Mahajan was then heard saying she was ready to show the recordings to him. On Tuesday, Scindia had offered to quit the Lok Sabha if the allegations by the BJP MPs that he was against Dalits were proved. He had also said that these MPs should quit if they were unable to prove their charges and also demanded a public apology from them.

"They (BJP MPs) have been making wrong and baseless allegations against me for the past few days. ... My image has been tarnished. I seek your protection," he had told Mahajan. On the issue of BJP member Anurag Thakur allegedly shooting a video of opposition protests on his mobile phone, Mahajan said she did not know what had happened at that point of time in the House as there was a din. However, she told the member "I am warning you... Dobara galti nahi honi chahiye (the mistake should not be repeated)." Some opposition members, including those from the Congress, had complained about Thakur shooting a video of their protests on July 24 inside the House.

AAP member Bhagwant Mann, who was himself suspended for two sessions for taking a video in the Parliament complex, had also written a letter in this regard to the Speaker.