A strong Congress protest forced Union minister Giriraj Singh to apologise in Parliament on Monday over his controversial remarks made against Congress president Sonia Gandhi. "I had no intention to disrespect anybody. If what I said has hurt anybody, I apologise for that," the BJP MP from Bihar said in Lok Sabha. As the House met for the second leg of the Budget session, the opposition Congress raked up the remarks and demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "A minister of the government has made outrageous remarks against Sonia Gandhiji, who is also a woman. He not only insulted the women of the country but also the people of Nigeria," Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia said. "We want the PM to apologise and seek the resignation of such ministers and MPs," he said. Last month, the Union Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises had told reporters in Patna, "Had (former PM) Rajiv Gandhi married a Nigerian woman and if she was not a white-skinned woman, would the Congress have then accepted her leadership?" After a row erupted, he claimed the remarks were made off the record. The Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, who had courted controversies in the past with remarks during the Lok Sabha elections like people opposed to Narendra Modi can go to Pakistan, had also mocked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's absence from the political scene and likened it to the missing Malaysian airliner. Rahul on Monday reached Parliament shortly after the Lok Sabha was adjourned. On Monday, the NDA government was defensive. "Nobody in the government approves of such remarks at the personal level," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu said. When the Congress MPs demanded a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he shot back, "Why are you dragging the PM into it? Do you want to politicise the issue?" At this, the Congress MPs began raising the slogan, "We will not tolerate any disrespect of women" forcing Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to adjourn the proceedings for 20 minutes. As it reconvened at 11.45 am, Giriraj Singh got up to express his apology. Moments before the Lok Sabha met, PM Modi had appealed to all the political parties to make it as "productive and successful" as the previous session.
