Rajasthan: BJP MLA calls Congress legislator Rafeek Khan a ‘Pakistani’ in Assembly

Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Gopal Sharma on Friday repeatedly referred to Congress chief whip Rafeek Khan as a “Pakistani” in the Rajasthan Assembly, leading to an uproar in the House, The Indian Express reported.

Sharma used the term during a discussion about grants for the departments of urban development and housing, and local self-government.

Khan, while comparing the previous Congress government’s performance on urban development to that of the current BJP dispensation, indirectly referred to Gopal Sharma, asking Chairperson Sandeep Sharma to “impart some knowledge” to him.

This prompted the BJP legislator to call the Congress leader a “Pakistani”, triggering protests from the Opposition benches.

Khan objected to Sharma’s behavior, further escalating the confrontation, The Times of India reported. Amid the confrontation, the BJP leader also made a reference to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, but withdrew the remarks after the chairperson reminded him that non-members could not be named in the state Assembly.

Other Congress MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Tika Ram Jully, also criticised Sharma’s comments, prompting the chairperson to intervene and restore order in the house.

Later Jully also spoke about the incident on social media calling Gopal Sharma’s comments “intolerable and condemnable”.

“BJP leaders are competing to lower the level of their statements day by day,” Jully said. “They do not see any difference between the speeches given in the Assembly and those given on the street.”

Last year on March 6, the BJP leader had locked horns with Khan during a Board meeting of the Jaipur Municipal Corporation, during which he said that he would not let Jaipur become a “mini-Pakistan” during a confrontation between the two MLAs over the national anthem. Back then Gopal Sharma had called for Khan’s arrest.