Jaipur, Feb 21 (PTI) The Rajasthan Assembly witnessed noisy and unruly scenes on Friday over a remark by a minister while answering a question regarding hostels for working women, which led to three adjournments of the House and suspension of six Congress MLAs for the remainder of the budget session.

During the Question Hour, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Avinash Gehlot pointed to the opposition and said, "In the 2023-24 budget of also, like always, you named the scheme (on working women's hostels) after your 'dadi' (grandmother) Indira Gandhi."

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Objecting to the remark, Congress MLAs stormed to the well, raising slogans and demanded an apology from the minister.

Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully stood up from his seat and demanded that the "inappropriate word" be removed from the record.

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Laxmangarh MLA and PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasara demanded that the statement be expunged and the minister should apologise. He also tried to move close to the speaker during the protest, prompting the marshals to be called.

The proceedings of the House had to be adjourned thrice due to the uproar over the remark.

Many ministers and MLAs from the ruling BJP hit back at opposition leaders and gave loud counters to their charges.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Jogaram Patel said there was nothing unparliamentary about the word 'dadi'.

When Congress MLAs started entering the well, the House was adjourned for half an hour during the Question Hour. Later when the House proceedings resumed, Congress leaders continued sloganeering and the speaker announced the adjournment of the House till 2 pm.

At 2 pm, too, Congress members continued raising slogans at the well and in front of the chair. The proceedings were then adjourned till 4 pm.

When the house reassembled at 4 pm, government chief whip Jogeshwar Garg said that all limits were crossed by the opposition to express anger.

"The speed and intention with which they moved towards the chair and the incident of reaching close to the Speaker is definitely condemnable and not a pardonable crime," he said.

"Therefore, I request that as a result of the indecent and condemnable conduct of the opposition members in the House, the following members should be suspended for the remaining period of the current budget session... Govind Singh Dotasara, Ramkesh Meena, Amin Kagzi, Jakir Hussain, Hakim Ali and Sanjay Kumar," he said.

The house passed the proposal by voice vote following which the speaker Vasudev Devnani adjourned the house until 11 am on February 24.

After the house was adjourned for the day, Congress MLAs began a dharna in the well of the house.

Earlier, Jully took to X terming it a "shameless" and "indecent" comment by a BJP minister on former prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Dotasra said on 'X', "Rajasthan will not tolerate the insult of Indira ji.

BJP minister Avinash Gehlot who commented on former prime minister Indira Gandhi should apologise." On behalf of the government, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Patel addressed reporters outside the House.

"Today, all our ministers were answering the questions effectively. The opposition got completely agitated. dada, dadi, mama, mami (grandfather, grandmother, uncle, aunty) -- these are not unparliamentary language, these are respectful words.

"Mahatma Gandhi is called 'dada'. If former prime minister Indira Gandhi is called 'dadi', then I personally believe that it is not unparliamentary, it is a respectful word," he added.

Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot said that the BJP government does not want to run the assembly therefore such remarks are made.

"Their ministers sometimes make baseless comments on the late Prime Minister and sometimes on the late Chief Minister," Gehlot said on X.

"Today, Minister Avinash Gehlot has made a lowly comment on Indira Gandhi who sacrificed her life for the country. This cannot be tolerated," he said.

"A few days ago, MLA Gopal Sharma accused former Chief Minister Shivcharan Mathur of trying to encounter Kirori Lal Meena and Harish Sharma, which is very unfortunate. It should not be forgotten that Mathur was also a freedom fighter," he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)