Rajnath faces tough time defending government in Rajya Sabha

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday faced a tough time defending the Centre and the Delhi Police in the Rajya Sabha, with the opposition members staging a walkout even before he had finished his statement.

The Delhi Police were trying their best to maintain law and order in the national capital, he said while replying to a call attention motion on complete breakdown of law and order in Delhi.

"I am not saying that the Delhi Police is perfect. As no person can be perfect, how can an organisation like this (which is so large) can be perfect?" he said, adding that the government was doing everything possible to maintain peace.

There were vociferous protests by the Congress, left and other opposition members when Rajnath Singh said that those involved in violence against journalists as well as Jawaharlal Nehru University students and teachers inside the Patiala House court complex on February 15 and 17 had been booked and the law would now take its own course.

The opposition accused the government of trying to save the guilty as the attack was carried out on its directions.

Nationalist Congress Party leader D.P. Tripathi said no one in the history of independent India was beaten up like those in the Patiala House courts.

"Gangsters are (now) teaching nationalism," Tripathi remarked, adding that it was a dangerous situation.

In response, the home minister said that the law was taking its own course, but the opposition asked him how people how could be clearly seen attacking others were let off immediately after an FIR was filed against them.

The opposition members asked Rajnath Singh to book the culprits under stringent provisions of law.

Rajnath Singh, however, kept on repeating that the guilty would be punished, but the opposition was not satisfied. The members alleged that the government was trying to save its own party MLA who too was seen attacking people in the court premises.

As the home minister was about to finish his reply on the motion, the opposition members walked out of the upper house.

During his reply, the minister also tried to reason that Delhi was one of the largest cities in India and that the Delhi Police were facing shortage of personnel.

K.C. Tyagi of Janata Dal-United asked the home minister to be his "real self" as he has handled riots well during his chief ministership in Uttar Pradesh.