Conversion row: Congress doing disservice to nation, says Naidu

Asserting that the Congress is doing a disservice to the nation by disrupting the Parliament over religious conversion issue, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said the former should think about their conduct and change their attitude.

"They cannot stall the house like this. They are doing a disservice to the country. It is not in the interest of the system, it is not in the interest of the democracy. It is an unfortunate sorry state of affairs, the Congress should seriously think about their conduct in the upper house and change their attitude, that is my wish," he told mediapersons here.

Naidu alleged that the opposition was not concerned about the welfare of the people.

"They don't want any debate, they don't want any discussion, they don't want house to function and they don't want people's welfare. They said they want to discuss the issue of conversions, then they said they want minister to be present, after my request the Home Minister came to the house for discussion. Then they said we don't want Home Minister we want Prime Minister," Naidu said.

"It has always been the practice that the concerned minister answers. That being the practice and when concerned minister himself is willing to answer the debate, I don't know what is their problem," he added.

Last week, around 200 people were reportedly converted to Hinduism in a ceremony in Agra by groups linked to the BJP's ideological mentor RSS.