Govt. slams 'intolerant' opposition for LS walkout

Following the walk out staged by the opposition in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the Government slammed the 'intolerant' move, saying it indicated that the opposition was unable to handle the point-by-point rebuttal made by Home Minister Rajnath Singh during the debate.

"It's very unfortunate that Rahul Gandhi and the entire Congress party weren't there when Rajnath Singh talked about VK Singh. They did not even have the patience to listen to him. They don't have the tolerance. Rajnath sat for seven hours but Rahul and his team did not have the patience for seven minutes and they decided to walk out," Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy told the media.

Echoing similar sentiments, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said the Congress has derailed from the main issue and that the walk out that was staged has completely 'exposed' them.

"They ran away in the last part of the debate and they did not have the tolerance or the capacity to hear out the Home Minister," he said.

Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs M. Venkaiah Naidu accused the Congress of not being able to digest the 'response' by the government which led to their walkout and held the grand old party responsible for glorifying 'isolated' incidents.

"Congress is talking about intolerance but they were the one who imposed emergency, amended the constitution and brought press censorship. Even the protest by the writers is selective. The government has nothing to hide and the Congress cannot digest that," Naidu told the media here.

Reacting to the walk out staged by the opposition, Rajnath said that they should have sat through the session and heard the government's side.

"I countered all their points and replied to their questions. If I can sit through five to six hours and listen to their version, the Congress could have at least heard us for half-an-hour," he told the reporters here after emerging from the parliament.

Earlier, the Home Minister defended the government and asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were the biggest victims of intolerance.

"At least tolerate is the mandate of the people. The biggest victim of intolerance has been Prime Minister Modi himself. Intolerance has been displayed only thrice. In partition, during emergency and during the 1984 riots," Rajnath said.

Defending the government over the Dadri lynching case, he added that the Centre had sought an immediate report from the Uttar Pradesh government and had done everything in their power to get to the bottom of the case. He said that the reply from the Uttar Pradesh Government was that it was not a communally-motivated incident.

However, Rajnath assured that anyone trying to disturb the social fabric of the country will not be spared, and added that the Centre was intolerant towards elements hurting the nation.