"Awful and unacceptable": Jairam Ramesh targets PM Modi over apparent remarks on Hamid Ansari

New Delhi [India], July 6 : Congress leader Jairam Ramesh hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his apparent reference to former Vice President Hamid Ansari in Parliament, terming his remarks "awful and unacceptable."
This comes after Prime Minister Modi, during the recent Parliament session, said that BJP's strngth in Upper House was low in 2014 and then Rajya Sabha Chairman had "inclinations" towards the Opposition.
on Saturday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech in the Rajya Sabha. Condemning the PM's accusation that former Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Hamid Ansari, was biased towards the Opposition, Ramesh called Modi's words "awful and unacceptable."
Taking to his official X handle, Jairam Ramesh said, "One thing that the non-biological PM said in the Lok Sabha on July 2 has escaped much media notice. What he said was simply awful and unacceptable, and ought to have been immediately expunged."
"He (PM Modi) accused the former Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Hamid Ansari of 'leaning' towards the Opposition."
Stepping up his attack on BJP, he accused PM Modi of "targetting" Hamid Ansari during his farewell speech in 2017.
He emphasised that Ansari held top diplomatic positions in big countries, which were vital for India's interests.
"This is not the first time Narendra Modi has targeted Hamid Ansari. In his farewell speech on Ansari's retirement seven years ago, he alluded to Ansari's top diplomatic postings which happened to be in Islamic countries. That these countries were of vital interest to India, and that Ansari retired from the IFS after having served as High Commissioner to Australia and as India's Permanent Representative at the UN in New York as well, was mischievously overlooked," Ramesh said.
the Congress general secretary also accused PM Modi of "breaking parliamentary decorum" and lowering the "remaining dignity of his post."
"No PM has ever attacked a former Speaker or Chairman of the Rajya Sabha in the manner that Modi has. He has broken all Parliamentary norms in doing so. He has further diminished whatever is left of the dignity of the office he holds after his despicable election campaign," the Congress leader added.
Notably, during his reply to the Motion of Thanks on President's Address in the Rajya Sabha on July 2, PM Modi, without taking any names had said, "No matter how many numbers they claim, when we came in 2014, our strength in the Rajya Sabha was very low, and the Chair's inclination was somewhat on the other side. But we did not waver from our resolve to serve the country with pride."
"I want to tell the people of the country that the decision you have made, the order you have given us to serve, neither Modi nor this government will be afraid of any such obstacles. We will fulfil the resolutions we have set out to achieve," he added.
Hamid Ansari, the former Vice President, held the position of Chairman of the Rajya Sabha from August 11, 2012 to August 10, 2017.