New Delhi: Peeved over attacks by the Congress and opposition parties against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, BJP parliamentary party was told by defence minister and former BJP chief Rajnath Singh on Tuesday to retaliate, albeit within parliamentary maryada (dignity).

In an address to the parliamentary party meet, Mr Singh said the MPs need to be prepared to take on the opposition when they term the Prime Minister and the home minister intruders and call the country’s finance minister as “nirbala” (powerless).

A combative defence minister also asked the MPs to be prepared to defend their leaders and retaliate against the opposition lies. “The defence minister, however, asked them to be cautious in these counter measures and to maintain the maryada of the House while making any statements,” sources stated.  

The comments of the former BJP chief came soon after the leader of Congress in LS Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary made statements against the senior leadership of the BJP.

Mr Singh also lamented the fact that several party MPs were not regular in attending the House proceedings, underlining Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dissatisfaction over lack of their adequate presence at many times. The defence minister asked the party’s elected representatives to maintain good attendance record and ensure presence in Parliament during discussion on important bills or issues.  

BJP MPs must be present in Parliament in large numbers when Mr Shah tables the bill, which is likely to be cleared by the Union Cabinet on Wedne-sday, Mr Singh said asking them to be present during the presentation of Citize-nship Amendment Bill in Parliament by home minister Amit Shah.

He rejected the opposition’s criticism of the Bill and asserted that the BJP has always worked to unite the country and its people, the Bill seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan if they faced religious persecution there.  

Sources stated that Singh said the three neighbouring countries were essentially Islamic nations and so it is non-Muslims and not Muslims who are at the receiving end.