A war of words broke out in Lok Sabha on Monday over Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's remarks that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were "infiltrators".
During the Question Hour, when Chowdhury rose to ask a supplementary related to the Steel Ministry, ruling alliance members tried to mock him by shouting the word "infiltrator" several times.
The Congress leader immediately tried to counter by saying: "Yes, I am an infiltrator, I am a 'deemak' (termite). Modi is an infiltrator. Amit Shah is an infiltrator. L K Advani is an infiltrator".
While the BJP sought an apology from Chowdhury over his comment, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi took a swipe at the Congress over its President Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. He said the party's own leader is an "infiltrator" and it targets others in a similar manner.
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In a back and forth of attacks, Chowdhury replied by saying, "Yeh humare leader Sonia Gandhi ji ko ghuspethia keh rahe hain. Kya kar rahe ho aap (BJP) log? Agar mera leader hai (ghuspetiya) toh apka leader bhi hai (He is calling our leader Sonia Gandhi an infiltrator. What are you people doing? If my leader is an infiltrator, so is yours)."
Earlier on Sunday, speaking on the National Register Of Citizen (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Bill, Chowdhury said, "Hindustan kisi ki jageer hai kya? Sabka samaan adhikaar hai. Main bol sakta hu Amit Shah ji, Narendra Modi ji aap khud ghuspetiye hain. Ghar aapka Gujarat agaye Dilli, aap khud migrant hain. (Is India someone's property? Everyone has equal right over it. I can say Amit Shah, Narendra Modi you are infiltrators yourselves. Your home is in Gujarat and you have come to Delhi, you are migrants.)"
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Union Petroleum and Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan hit back as well, saying Chowdhury's "design would be exposed soon".
"Sab khulengi, aap ki paribhasha se desh nahi chalega (Everything will be exposed. The country will not run by your definitions," Pradhan said.
Earlier, Amit Shah had said in the Rajya Sabha that the Citizenship Amendment Bill is needed so that Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Christian and Parsi refugees, who are being discriminated on the basis of their religion in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan, can obtain Indian citizenship.
