Rajya Sabha may witness uproar over Selja issue

Pandemonium is expected in Rajya Sabha tomorrow over the row surrounding Kumari Selja, with Congress today seeking unconditional apology from those who made remarks against the former Union Minister.
Rajya Sabha today saw uproar and repeated adjournments after Ministers-- Arun Jaitley and Piyush Goyal-- disputed the version of Congress leader Selja that she had faced discrimination because of her caste in a temple in Gujarat a few years back.
"You must have the grace, the magnanimity and the graciousness to simply unconditionally withdraw it and to apologise. You do not become small, you become bigger with this," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said.

Targeting the government, he wondered as to what was the necessity of raising such a petty issue today -- a day after the speech is over by no less than the Leader of the House? "Is it a matter of paramount national importance?".
"Is it only because everybody in this Government - Ministers downwards and officials in particular are trying to score brownie points to please the Master whenever Gujarat arises or anything to do with Gujarat and some buttons are pressed in supersonic speed," he said.
"Perhaps there was a biggest hit-wicket and self-goal in this anxiety to please the Gujarat Masters," he said.

He said that government added fuel to the fire with a minister using a word which has now become the favourite of the BJP by alleging that it is a "manufactured protest".
"The word manufactured has been manufactured to become the most favourite manufactured word. You insult a lady Member, you actually make a false statement about what she said and then no less than a Minister calls it manufactured," he said.