MP defends PM-CARES, Cong calls him 'chhokra'

September 18, 2020 16:59

A fierce row broke out in the Lok Sabha over Union Minister Anurag Thakur's comments on the Nehru-Gandhi family with Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury retaliating and calling Thakur a chhokra (slang for two-bit boy/man).

This led to the first adjournment in this monsoon session of parliament, with the Congress party MPs staging a walkout. Opposition members also accused the Speaker of bias.

Union Minister Anurag Thakur spoke out in defence of the PM-CARES fund, which the opposition says lacks transparency.

"From the high court to the Supreme Court, every court has validated the PM-CARES fund. Little children have contributed to it from their piggy banks. Nehru set up a fund that has not been registered to date. You (Congress) only made a trust for the benefit of the Gandhi family. You made Sonia Gandhi its chairman. It should be investigated," said Anurag Thakur.

"Opposing PM Cares Fund, just for the sake of it, is like they opposed EVMs & then lost many elections. They subsequently termed Jan Dhan, demonetization, Triple Talaq & GST as bad. They find defect in everything, truth is their intention is defected," Thakur said.

His remarks provoked a roar of protests from the opposition benches, specifically Congress MPs.

"Who is this boy from Himachal," Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury lashed out at Mr Thakur. "How did Nehru come into this debate? Did we take (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi's name? This two-bit chhokra..."

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