‘Jai Shri Ram’, ‘Allahu Akbar’: Religious slogans mark swearing in ceremony of 17th LS

New Delhi, June 18

Dramatic scenes of sloganeering and heated exchanges marked the oath-taking ceremony of the 17th Lok Sabha on Tuesday—a development that comes even before the new Lower House gets down to official business.

Slogans of “Jai Shri Ram”, “Jai Maa Durga” and, “Allahu Akbar” competed for precedence in the House despite the Chair’s repeated intervention to prevent it. Some new Members of Parliament even began their oaths with controversial slogans despite the warnings.  The atmosphere became particularly charged when Trinamool Congress began to take their oath. When MPs from treasury benches called of “Jai Shri Ram”, TMC leaders countered with slogans like “Jai Hind”, “Jai Bengal”, “Jai Maa Durga” and “Jai Mamata”.

TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee recited “Durga Path” after concluding his oath, while his party colleague Abu Taher Khan began his oath with “Bismillah, ar-Rahman, ar Rahim” and ended with Allahu Akbar.

BJP’s Devendra Singh Bhole began with “Om Namah Shivay”.

BJP’s Nisith Pramanik came to the House with 'rajbongshi pagdi' and took oath in Bengali.

As West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee's name was called for oath, BJP members chanted “Jai Shri Ram”. Banerjee responded saying: “Even Modiji isn’t so popular in the House”.

BJP’s actor-politician Ravi Kishan, a MP from Gorakhnath, added “Har Har Mahadev” and “Guru Gorakhnath Ki Jai” to his oath.    

While many BJP MPs ended their oath with chants of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Jai Shri Ram, Samajwadi Party MP from Sambhal, Shafiqur Rahman Barq, objected to “Vande Mataram slogan, drawing protests from members of treasury benches who demanded an apology.

SP member Shyam Singh Yadav concluded his oath with “Jai Bheem, Jai Bharat and Jai Samajwad”.

Taking a dig, Congress President Rahul Gandhi asked BJP Arun Kumar Sagar, who chanted “Bharat Mata ki Jai” twice, to raise the slogan "one more time".

Gandhi again repeated "one more time" after the next BJP MP Ajay Kumar also raised the slogan of “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.

Kumar then retorted he will raise the slogan again if Gandhi can complete it by chanting “Jai”, following which Gandhi said “Jai Hind” and was joined by other Congress members.

Aligarh BJP MP Satish Kumar Gautam also raised a slogan, rebuffing a reminder to not to do so.

Asaduddin Owaisi, AIMIM MP from Hyderabad, chanted "Jai Bheem, Jai Meem, Takbeer Allahu Akbar, Jai Hind", after members from the ruling side shouted slogans of “Jai Shri Ram”, “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” and “Vande mataram”.

Earlier, when a DMK member hailed Periyar, Kaliangar (DMK supremo M Karunanidhi), Mahatma Gandhi and Ambedkar, the Chair ruled only the prescribed format should be taken on record.

BJP MP from Mathura Hema Malini concluded her oath with “Radhey, Radhey” and a phrase from shloka in praise of Lord Krishna. Agencies