Stop disrespecting our jawans: Govt. tells Rahul Gandhi

Flaying the opposition parties for politicizing the sacrifice of soldiers, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday trained guns at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and urged him to stop disrespecting jawans protecting the nation.

Prasad questioned the opposition's walkout and dubbed the entire episode as unfortunate.

"I would first ask Rahul Gandhi to stop disrespecting our slain jawans. We should not politicize their sacrifice. We should together pay tribute to them. What is the problem in that?" said Prasad.

"They should come and discuss things, especially when madam Speaker said that we are ready for a debate, still after that they are politicising the issue, it is very unfortunate," he added.

 

Echoing similar sentiments, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore said there is no need for the Congress Party to guide the Centre as to a nation lover must react to the sacrifice of our soldiers.

"The kind of politics they are playing over the sacrifice of our jawans, it is very unfortunate. There is no need for the Congress to teach us, how to do our duties for the nation, what steps to take to keep our country safe and how should one react over the sacrifices of our jawans," he said.

The Congress vice-president earlier in the day led the opposition walkout over no obituary references being made in the Parliament for the seven Army personnel, who lost their lives in the terror attack on an Army base in Nagrota, Jammu and Kashmir.

"It is the rule and tradition of the Parliament that when someone dies, we pay homage to them. But this is the first time that this has not happened, which is why the Congress along with the entire opposition has walked out from the house," he told the media here after emerging from the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha has been adjourned for the day while the Rajya Sabha till 2 p.m. as a united opposition continued to mount pressure on the government for the demonetisation of high-value currency notes and raised the issue of yesterday's terror attack in Nagrota.