Parliament Budget Session Live Updates: Amit Shah's remark on Ambedkar was his biggest insult, says Mallikarjun Kharge

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, on Monday condemned Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on Dalit icon BR Ambedkar, saying it was a "big insult" to him and said the latter should quit his post.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was able to table the Union Budget 2025-26 due to the Constitution and not because of Manusmriti.

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra praised her brother Rahul Gandhi's speech in the Lok Sabha during the Budget session.

"I believe ever since I came to Parliament, there have been several types of speeches. A speech should be like this, where the leader talks about his vision for the country, and about the country instead of indulging in a blame game," she told reporters.

Former Union Minister and BJP leader PP Chaudhary hit out at Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his speech in the Lok Sabha earlier today, asserting he gave "irresponsible and irrelevant statements" and these did not suit the post of the Leader of Opposition.

"He should first read about the laws and also the provisions of the Election Commission before making such statements," Rahul Gandhi today spoke with a lot of immaturity," he said.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said that neither the Congress-led UPA government nor Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government, which has been ruling for the past 10 years, were not able to tackle the "universal problem" of unemployment.

"A universal problem that we have faced is that we have not been able to tackle the problem of unemployment. Neither the UPA government nor today the NDA government has given a clear cut answer to the youth of India on unemployment," he said in the Lok Sabha.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said that people talk about Artificial Intelligence (AI), but it is meaningless on its own. He said every single data that comes out of the production system is owned by China.

"China has at least a 10-year lead on India in this space. China has been working on batteries, robots, motors and optics for the last 10 years and we are behind. We would ensure that our banking system is not captured by two to three companies that basically do not allow you to build a production system. But our banking system is open, dynamic and accessible to small and medium businesses and to millions and millions of entrepreneurs who want to take part in this revolution," he said in the Lok Sabha.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said, "...I want to bring to the notice of this House some data and information about the Maharashtra elections. Between the Lok Sabha election, which the INDIA Alliance won, and the Vidhan Sabha election, the voting population of Himachal Pradesh was added to the voter roll of Maharashtra. This means the entire population of Himachal Pradesh was added to the voter rolls of Maharashtra. Almost 70 lakh new voters suddenly appeared between the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections..."
 

Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said"...Our Chief of Army Staff has said that the Chinese are inside our territory. This is a fact. The reason China is inside our territory is important...The reason China is sitting inside this country is because 'Make in India' has failed. The reason China sitting inside this country is because India is refusing to produce and I'm worried that India is going to give up this revolution to the Chinese once again...If and when we fight a war with China, we will be fighting with Chinese electric motors, Chinese batteries and Chinese optics and we will be buying Chinese motors, Chinese optics and Chinese batteries."

Rahul Gandhi said, “The Prime Minister proposed ‘Make in India’, a good initiative. We saw the statues, functions, and the so-called investors, and the result is right in front of me today.”

“Manufacturing fell from 15.3 per cent of GDP in 2014 to 12.6 per cent of GDP today i.e. the lowest share of manufacturing in 60 years,” he added.

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Rahul Gandhi's remarks about PM Modi over the inaugural ceremony of US President Donald Trump. 

Kiren Rijiju said, "the Leader of the Opposition cannot make such a serious unsubstantial statement. This is related to the relationship between the two countries, and he is making an unverified statement about the invitation of the Prime Minister of our country...."

Replying to him, Rahul Gandhi said, "I apologise for disturbing your peace of mind..."

Rahul Gandhi said, “It was a moment of pride for our Congress party to see PM Modi bow in front of the Constitution after winning the Lok Sabha election." 

Rahul Gandhi criticised RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat over his “independence” remark, stating that the country will always be governed by the Constitution and the Opposition will never allow it to be run by any other text.

Rahul Gandhi claimed that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar travelled to the United States to persuade officials to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jaishankar had attended Donald Trump’s inauguration on 20 January as the PM’s special envoy.
 

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said in Lok Sabha, “Any country basically organises two things, you can organise consumption and then you can organise production. The modern way of saying organising consumption is services. The modern way of saying organising production is manufacturing, but there is more to production than simply manufacturing. We have as a country failed in organising production. We have excellent companies that try to organise production…essentially what we have done is we have handed over the organisation of production to the Chinese. This mobile phone, even though we are saying we make this mobile phone in India, that is not a fact. This phone is not made in India. This phone is assembled in India. All the components of this phone are made in China…we are paying a tax to China.”
 

Rahul Gandhi said in Lok Sabha, “People talk about AI, but it’s important to understand that AI on its own is absolutely meaningless because AI operates on top of data. Without data, AI means nothing. And if we look at data today, there is one thing which is very clear. Every single piece of data that comes out of the production system in the world. The data that was used to make this phone, the data that is used to make electric cars. The data that is used to make basically all electronics on the planet today is owned by China.”

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed Rahul Gandhi during the reply to Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, as several NDA MPs expressed disagreement with the Leader of Opposition’s remarks on India’s failure to organise production.
 

Rahul Gandhi criticised the Make-in-India initiative, saying the country has failed to “organise production.” Holding up a phone, he pointed out that it was made in China and only “assembled” in India.

“We have failed as a country to organise production. We have handed over this to the Chinese. This phone is not made in India – it’s made in China,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi said in Lok Sabha, “I don’t think anyone in this room will disagree. I will give a little statistic for the PM. The PM, something I would agree with directionally, Make in India program — a good idea. We saw the statues, functions, so called investment, and the result is in front of you. Manufacturing fell from 15.3 per cent of GDP in 2014 to 12.6 per cent of GDP. That is the lowest share of manufacturing in 60 years.”

On his "boring" remark over President Draupadi Murmur's address, Rahul Gandhi said that he struggled during the speech, and it was a reiteration of "government's laundry list."