Opposition Parties Move Privilege Notice Against Piyush Goyal, Demand Apology Over ‘Traitors’ Remark

Opposition leaders moved a privilege notice against the leader of the house in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal for addressing them as traitors.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh asked for Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s apology on the floor of the house. ( Image Source :PTI )

Many leaders from the Opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc moved a privilege notice against the leader of the house in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal for addressing them as ‘traitors’ on Tuesday. While hitting out strongly at the Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took to Twitter and asked for his apology on the floor of the house. The leaders from Congress, TMC, AAP, RJD, DMK, RJD, JDU, NCP and the Left parties gave the notice and also created uproar in the house over this, reported news agency PTI.

Today at 1300 hrs, the floor leaders of INDIA parties in the Rajya Sabha submitted a privilege motion against Leader of the House Piyush Goyal for addressing the Opposition as all of them "traitors". Nothing less than an apology from him on the floor of the House, when it is in…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 8, 2023

General Secretary in-charge Communications of the Congress Jairam Ramesh tweeted, "Nothing less than an apology from him on the floor of the House, when it is in order, will do.”

Leaders of the INDIA gave notice to the Rajya Sabha chairman complaining against Piyush Goyal's remarks that he made while speaking on the issue of a media portal receiving funding from China-linked firms allegedly to spread Chinese propaganda.

In another Tweet, Jairam Ramesh said the parties staged a walkout from Rajya Sabha for the rest of the day because of Piyush Goyal's continued refusal to apologise for the highly objectionable and completely unacceptable remarks that he made against leaders of the INDIA bloc.

The INDIA parties walked out of the Rajya Sabha today for the rest of the day because of:

1. The continued refusal of the Modi government to allow an immediate discussion on Manipur on the basis of a mutually negotiated Motion.

2. The continued refusal of the Leader of the…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) August 8, 2023

The minister had questioned the relationship between the digital news portal ‘NewsClick’ and the Opposition parties. This came after a report by the New York Times about the news portal allegedly receiving funding from China-linked firms. Notably, later in the House, Piyush Goyal said he takes back any words which may not be parliamentary and urged the chair to remove the same from the records.

ये घमंडिया गठबंधन भारत के खिलाफ षड्यंत्र रचते हुए देश की एकता और अखंडता पर प्रहार करने का काम कर रहा है। pic.twitter.com/VHq62gAh2C

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) August 8, 2023

In a tweet, Goyal said the alliance was "arrogantly" working to attack the unity and integrity of the country by hatching a conspiracy against India. Moreover, the chairman said he will go through the records and if there is anything unparliamentary, that will be expunged as part of the records of the House.