Indian MPs fight in parliament as first session since Delhi riots descends into chaos

Opposition parties call for resignation of home minister after 46 killed in capital's worst violence in decades

Proceedings in India’s parliament were suspended on Monday after a protest over the Delhi riots ended in a scuffle between MPs in the floor of the lower house.

In the first session since religious violence in the capital killed 46 people, opposition MPs carried a large banner into the chamber which called for the resignation of home minister Amit Shah.

Narendra Modi’s long-time right hand man, Mr Shah is responsible for policing in the capital and has been accused of allowing mobs of hundreds, if not thousands of Hindus to lynch Muslims and burn mosques and Muslim homes and businesses, unchecked.

The ugly scenes on Monday came as the chief whip of Mr Modi’s ruling BJP was speaking during a budget debate. Members of the opposition Congress party entered the well of the lower house, the Lok Sabha, unfurling their “Shah must quit” banner.

Other placards held up by the opposition read “Save India”, “No more hate” and “Stop hate speech”. The latter is a reference to allegations that a number of BJP politicians incited Hindus to take to the streets last Sunday, kicking off the bloodshed.

In scenes which were caught live on parliamentary TV, members then descended from the government benches and the two sides started pushing and shoving each other in the centre of the house.

Proceedings were adjourned for the day by speaker Om Birla, who urged MPs to “maintain decorum in the temple of democracy in the country”.

Sloganeering and the use of banners is not uncommon in India’s parliament, though against the rules, as MPs try to get their messages conveyed on camera. But unusually, political reporters said the scuffles continued after the house was adjourned and the live stream of proceedings switched off.

In the aftermath, a female Congress MP wrote to the speaker alleging she was assaulted after the cameras were turned off. Ramya Haridas said she was repeatedly struck on the shoulder and asked if it happened “because I am (lower caste) Dalit and [a] woman?”

For its part, the BJP said it would move a resolution tomorrow calling for the opposition MPs involved to be suspended, accusing them of “trying to intimidate” the government benches.

The protest in parliament was part of a coordinated effort by Congress, its loudest condemnation yet of what it calls the government’s complicity in last week’s wave of anti-Muslim violence.

A simultaneous protest in the upper house, the Raj Sabha, saw it adjourned at around the same time, while outside the chambers MPs from across opposition parties staged demonstrations next to a statue of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi.

Some Congress supporters were detained by police after burning an effigy of Mr Shah.

Apart from a vague tweet calling for “peace and brotherhood at all times” - and that coming three days after the riots began - Mr Modi is yet to speak out on the worst religious violence in the capital since 1984.

Mr Shah himself, speaking at a political rally in West Bengal, accused opposition parties of inciting riots by spreading misinformation about a new citizenship law that has been the source of months of protests. He otherwise made no mention of what happened in Delhi.

Also on Monday, India's Supreme Court agreed to hear cases filed by riot victims accusing BJP leaders of hate speech. Several petitions named Kapil Mishra, a local leader of Mr Modi's party who lost his Delhi state assembly seat in recent elections, of stoking the violence. Mr Mishra posted on social media calling on his followers to “give an answer” to those protesting the new citizenship laws by taking to the streets.

The revised death toll of 46, plus well over 200 injured, makes last week’s violence considerably more deadly than the Delhi clashes in 1992 following the razing of the Babri Masjid mosque in Ayodhya. Prior to that, the 1984 riots in the capital saw some 3,000 Sikhs killed, after prime minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards.