Heated row in Lok Sabha on Shashi Tharoor attack

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha saw heated exchanges Wednesday, the first day of the Monsoon Session, between the ruling side and the Opposition over the attacks on the office of Thiruvananthapuram Congress MP Shashi Tharoor in Kerala. Tempers ran high as parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar said the attack was “state-sponsored”, a charge that was countered by Congress and Left members, leading deputy speaker M. Thambidurai, who was in the Chair, to expunge the names of the parties they blamed from the records. Mr Thambidurai said the entire House was concerned that a member and his office had been attacked.

Earlier, Mr Tharoor had blamed right-wing activists for death threats and vandalising his office and demanded action against “anti-national elements” and the Prime Minister’s intervention.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha, Mr Tharoor said the attacks were on people who were expressing dissent and the victims, in recent months, have included intellectuals, the minorities, and various other citizens of the country.

“I am sorry to raise before this House the attack on my constituency office in Thiruvananthapuram and the death threats I received from members of the ruling party in response to my criticism of far-right extremism. This is not just an attack on a constitutionally-sanctioned MP’s office but also a larger attempt by incendiary elements and their digital equivalents to destroy the idea of India as a pluralistic and accepting democracy,” he said.

He further said that even Swami Agvinesh was attacked for expressing dissent against the rising intolerance. “We cannot and should not stand by as communal violence, mob lynching and hooliganism replace the rule of law and the rights guaranteed by our Constitution. I strongly urge the Prime Minister to break his silence on the behaviour of his own partymen and take action against these anti-national elements and anti-Indian elements who seek to abridge the freedom of speech in our democracy,” Mr Tharoor urged.

His remarks drew a sharp reaction from the treasury benches with parliamentary affairs minister Ananth Kumar saying that the law and order situation had to be dealt with by the state government. “There is state-organised terror... in Kerala,” Mr Kumar said, saying the allegation that the attack was carried out by right-wing activists was baseless and far from the truth.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said Mr Kumar was misleading the House as the government could find out from its intelligence agencies who were involved in the attack.