New Delhi: The Lok Sabha, already deadlocked over Rahul Gandhi’s insistence on mentioning an unpublished book, fell deeper on Wednesday when BJP MP Nishikant Dubey turned to a pile of books that unkindly mentioned members of the Nehru-Gandhi family to “expose” the Congress.Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reply to the motion of thanks for the President’s address had to be canceled as opposition protests intensified.Dubey’s move was seen as an attempt by the BJP to turn the tables on Congress, which has been attacking Modi over portions of an unpublished book written by former Army Chief General Naravane (retd), further irritating opposition MPs in LS who made loud noises and tore documents, but not before the fourth-term MP spoke for several minutes.Krishna Tenneti, the LDP MP who holds the chairmanship, kept asking Dube not to continue speaking and said his speech was against Speaker Om Birla’s ruling. “You listen to me. You can’t do this,” Tanetti said, as the BJP MP continued.The chairman then adjourned the House, but several opposition lawmakers questioned why Dube was allowed to continue speaking. The MPs later met LS Speaker Birla and demanded his suspension.The books Dubey mentioned include “Memoirs of the Nehru Era” by former private secretary to India’s first Prime Minister Mo Mathei; “Edwina and Nehru”, “Ceasefire” and “The Red Saree” before speaking out about their contents amid heated protests, including some controversial references to private life in addition to corruption allegations.These books were either banned during the Congress’s reign or were restricted to the point of being unavailable. “Since an unpublished book is being discussed, I would like to talk about books that are filled with stories of corruption, impropriety, wanton indulgence and corruption in the Nehru family,” Dube claimed, elaborating on the allegation at a later press conference.Congress MPs, including Priyanka Gandhi, KC Venugopal and Deepender Hooda, urged Birla to suspend Dubey and demanded that Rahul be allowed to speak before Modi’s reply to the motion of thanks for the President’s address.Modi’s speech scheduled to be delivered at 5 pm was canceled due to unrelenting protests by opposition members.In later comments to the media, Dubey referred to many more books, many of which he said were banned to level a range of accusations against leading Congress families, including personal indulgences. These include “The Himalayan Mistake,” a scathing account of India’s leadership during the 1962 Sino-Indian war that was banned but later published.
