(MENAFN- IANS) New Delhi, Sep 18 (IANS) On the first day of the Parliament's Special Session, a war of words erupted between Union Minister Piyush Goyal and Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge after the latter took a swipe at the logo of G20 under India's presidency. Speaking in Rajya Sabha on India's Parliamentary journey of 75 years, Kharge emphasised the need to control unemployment and inflation otherwise democracy will be destroyed.
Before the verbal exchange between Kharge and Goyal, the Rajya Sabha Chairman also slammed the Opposition, saying "for how long will we justify the disturbance, citing past precedences, and I do self-introspect, I feel bad".
He said: "The Leader of the Opposition would rise on this critical occasion to sanctify disturbance and disruption. You have quoted the Constituent Assembly."
When Dhankhar was speaking to Kharge, the Congress members opposed.
Continuining with his speech in the Upper House, Kharge said: "We want the Women's Reservation Bill to come, it has been due for long. And if you raise the issue, then it can be taken up."
Talking about the price rise and unemployment, the LoP said: "We are talking about unemployment. And in the last 75 years, we have seen now that it is increasing. Eight crore people are on the streets and inflation is also increasing. When one comes with tomatoes, then you get angry. Controlling inflation is important. Otherwise, democracy will be destroyed. If unemployment keeps on increasing, then democracy will be destroyed."
The Congress leader then also referred to the G20 Summit as the 'G2' and said it is all right. To this, the Chairman replied: "(It's) G20, sir."
Kharge then replied to the Chairman that he got confused with zero in G20 with lotus, referring to the logo under India's presidency.
"No, because the zero looked like a lotus," the Congress leader said, evoking laughter from the Opposition benches.
Objecting to his remarks, Goyal urged Kharge not to "make fun of G20".
"But the leader of the opposition, who is also Congress president, only sees 2G, one ji and son ji," Goyal said, in a veiled reference to former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
A visibly irked Kharge shot back: "When it comes to the nation, we are all united... but don't think that you are the only patriots.
"Patriot hamare log hain, jaan hamare log diye, mar gaye hamare log, maza aap utha rahe ho aur humko seekhate ho? (our people are patriots, they sacrificed their lives... our people died... you are reaping the fruits and teaching us?"
--IANS
aks/pgh