New Delhi, Feb 5 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday intensified its criticism of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of displaying “unparliamentary” and “childish” behaviour during the ongoing Budget Session of Parliament and slammed him for calling Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu a “traitor”. The Opposition in turn hit back accusing the ruling party of attempting to bring religion into the spat between Bittu and Gandhi for political advantage.

The fresh confrontation comes as tensions escalated over LoP Gandhi’s repeated attempts to raise the Ladakh standoff issue in the Lok Sabha, citing a magazine article that he claimed referenced the “unpublished book” of former Army Chief General M.M. Naravane (Retd.).

The controversy deepened after Gandhi, during an exchange inside Parliament premises on Wednesday, referred to Ravneet Singh Bittu as a “traitor” friend, triggering sharp reactions from the BJP and its allies.

Targeting the Congress leader, Union Minister Giriraj Singh told reporters, “It is regrettable that due to the stubbornness of a child, the House has been forced into a deadlock. This child’s name will be written in black letters.”

Several leaders from the BJP and its allied parties also criticised LoP Gandhi for his remarks directed at Bittu, describing the language as inappropriate and unfit for parliamentary discourse.

Speaking to IANS, BJP MP Gulam Ali Khatana said, “The Constitution of the country allows any individual to join or leave any political party. Using such unparliamentary words and calling a person from a particular community a traitor, a community that has fought for the country, protected it and sacrificed lives, insults the entire community. A Leader of the Opposition should not use such language.”

JD(U) spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan Prasad stated that the word ‘traitor’ cannot be part of parliamentary terminology.

“Due to the childish actions of the LoP, their party is always in trouble and, sooner or later, they have to feel ashamed,” he added.

However, the Congress party defended Gandhi and accused the BJP of attempting to communalise the issue for political advantage.

Speaking to IANS, senior Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal said, “How did religion come into this? The BJP has become habituated to bringing everything down to religion. What have they done for the Sikhs to date? Now they talk about the Sikhs… Because they want to stay in power.”

The Shiv Sena (UBT) also criticised the BJP’s response and questioned the attempt to link the remark to any specific community.

Speaking to IANS, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “How does this become an insult to the nation or the Sikhs? The exchange between the two reflects what is happening in the Lok Sabha session: Bitterness and discord, both sides taking rigid stances, and no coordination, no middle ground, no dialogue. What happened in the Parliament premises was a reflection of that. Unfortunately, inappropriate words were used from both sides.”

She further alleged that the BJP was trying to extract political mileage from the episode, saying, “The BJP tries to get political benefit from every situation. Connecting it to any community is ridiculous.”

–IANS

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