A HEATED exchange occurred between BJP and Congress MPs during a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Home Affairs, with the Opposition members insisting on a discussion on the police action against protesting students in Delhi on July 20, it is learnt.

A BJP member interjected, saying if the Congress members are not sticking to the agenda of the meeting, he too wants a discussion on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. This triggered a war of words between the two sides, especially BJP MP Tarun Chugh and Congress MP Jai Prakash, prompting the committee chairman, Radha Mohan Das Agrawal, to exclude the exchange from the record of the proceedings, it is learnt.

The agenda for the meeting of the Standing Committee on Home Affairs was to hear the views of several ministries on the subject “crime against children”. The Congress members on the panel are learnt to have argued during the meeting that what happened in the Capital on July 20 was a “crime against children” and should be discussed by the panel.

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A BJP member is learnt to have said that the Congress was allegedly glorifying its former leader Sajjan Kumar, convicted for his role in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, who died last week. The BJP member, it is learnt, said a Congress MP had made some remarks praising Kumar. A Congress member retaliated, targeting the BJP on alleged fake encounters in Haryana, resulting in a verbal altercation between the two sides, it is learnt.

A Congress MP had on August 5 submitted a letter to the committee chairman, Agrawal, seeking a discussion on the police action against students at Jantar Mantar on July 20 during the protest over NEET paper leak row.

When the letter could not be taken up on August 5, the Congress members insisted that the discussion be taken up during Tuesday’s meeting.

Agrawal is learnt to have told the panel that since the matter of police action was pending before the Supreme Court, it could not be discussed during the meeting of the parliamentary committee, as per rules and procedure of Parliament.

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Two Congress MPs had an exchange with Agrawal on the importance of discussing the issue of police action against students and argued that it fell in the purview of “crime against children”, which was the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting, it is learnt.

Agrawal is learnt to have passed a ruling that the issue raised by the Congress members could not be taken up during the committee meeting, but added that a discussion on standard operating procedures (SOP) on use of force during protests can be discussed in the future.

He is learnt to have said that officials from the departments concerned can be called for a meeting in the future and the SOP can be discussed with them.

The committee is learnt to have excluded both the Congress MP’s letter as well as the heated exchanges between the committee members from the record of the proceedings.