LS Speaker refers Bidhuri-Ali case to Privileges Committee

A week after Muslim MP Danish Ali received racial epithets from BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri in the Lok Sabha, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has referred the matter to the Privileges Committee. The panel will also look at some of the complaints against Ali.

- 

Some BJP lawmakers had accused the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) lawmaker of using derogatory language toward Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “provoking” Bidhuri to make the comments.

On 21 September, when speaking in the Lok Sabha in the new Parliament building, Bidhuri used a number of offensive and divisive comments against Ali. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh apologised in Parliament on behalf of his party’s MP after the remarks provoked considerable censure and indignation from the Opposition and on social media. In a letter to Speaker Om Birla, the BSP MP and representatives from four opposition parties—the Congress, DMK, Trinamool Congress, and NCP—demanded urgent sanctions against Bidhuri. BJP MPs Nishikant Dubey and Ravi Kishan had also written to the Speaker later, and alleged that Bidhuri had made objectionable remarks against PM Modi.