BJP's Nishikant Dubey claims Mahua Mitra called him "Bihari gunda"; TMC MP says "amused" at charge

By Ashoke Raj
New Delhi [India], July 28 : BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday claimed that Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra had called him a "Bihari gunda" during a meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology on Wednesday.
Dubey, the MP from Jharkhand's Godda took to Twitter to say that Moitra's "abusive language" has brought out into the open TMC's hatred towards North Indians, especially Hindi speaking people.
"Trinamool Congress has abused the entire Hindi speaking people along with Bihar by using the word Bihari Gunda. Mamata Banerjee ji, this abuse by TMC MP Mahua Moitra has brought your party's hatred towards North Indians and especially Hindi speaking people in front of the country," Dubey tweeted in Hindi.
"Lok Sabha Speaker ji, heard abuse for the first time in his 13 years of parliamentary life. TMC member Mahua Moita said 'Bihari Gunda' thrice in the meeting of IT Committee. Om Birla ji, Shashi Tharoor Ji has taken the contract to end this parliamentary tradition," the BJP leader said in another tweet.
Meanwhile, Moitra too took to Twitter to say: "Am a bit amused by charges of name-calling. IT mtng did not happen because NO quorum - members did not attend. How can I call someone a name who was not even present!! Check attendance sheet!" she tweeted.
In absence of the quorum, today's meeting of the 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology led by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor to discuss the Pegasus snooping case with ministry officials, was not held.
"After a heated debate on Bihari Gunde, the meeting was postponed due to lack of quorum," a member of the committee told ANI.
According to rules, one-third of the members of the panel are required to complete the quorum but BJP MPs who arrived for the meeting did not sign the attendance register stating that when the Congress was not allowing discussion on the issue in Parliament then it can't be discussed in the committee meeting.
Only nine MPs across the parties arrived for the meeting, which according to a notification of the Lok Sabha Secretariat had listed its agenda as "Citizens' data security and privacy."
The panel had summoned officials from the Ministry of Electronics, Information and Technology and the Ministry of Home Affairs but sources said that officials from both the ministries could not attend the meeting due to the ongoing monsoon session.
A source told ANI: "Today the meeting did not take place due to lack of quorum, the meeting was adjourned for another day."