Congress accuses MP minister Kailash Vijayvargiya of calling student protesters ‘insects’, ‘traitors’; he denies

The controversy escalated when Singhar accused Vijayvargiya of insulting students. “As for Kailash Vijayvargiya, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, who called the students vermin, anarchists, traitors, this is in the video. This is in the video.” Amid protests from the treasury benches, Singhar reiterated, “This is what is said in the video. This is an insult to the students. This is an insult to the students of the entire state.”

Cooperation Minister Vishwas Sarang immediately rejected the allegation, saying: “Kailash ji has not said anything like this. The Minister of Parliamentary Affairs has not said anything like this”.

The Opposition later walked out over the issue. Speaking to reporters outside the House, Vijayvargiya denied making any such remarks. “Congress members boycotted the proceedings and later staged a protest. They demanded an apology over an alleged remark against students, which I never made. I checked the Assembly proceedings and audio-video records, which confirmed that no such words were used by me.”

How it began

Vijayvargiya explained the dispute began after Congress MLAs raised the Delhi protests without following Assembly procedure. “Yesterday in the Legislative Assembly, senior MLA Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat suddenly raised the issue of the Delhi incident and the alleged lathi-charge. I objected because I am the Parliamentary Affairs Minister. I said that the House functions according to rules and procedures. You cannot raise any issue at any time. There is a proper procedure for doing so. I asked him to tell us under which rule or procedure he had raised the matter,” he said.

Denying that he had insulted students, Vijayvargiya added, “Then they alleged that I had called students ‘insects’, whereas I had never used such a word. The Leader of the Opposition and one or two other MLAs made that allegation,” Vijayvargiya said.

Responding to the demand for an adjournment motion, Public Works Minister Rakesh Singh argued that Assembly rules did not permit discussion on matters outside the jurisdiction of the state government. “Notices of adjournment given after 9 a.m. are considered for the next day. If they relate to the State Government, they will be accepted. If they are not related to that, then they cannot be accepted.” He further said: “Since this concerns the Central Government, the State Government has no involvement in its acceptance”.

Singhar countered that the issue nevertheless affected students in Madhya Pradesh. “Two female students from the state also died in the NEET exam, and numerous similar scams have occurred in Madhya Pradesh. Can’t you hold a discussion for the future of these students? Hold it tomorrow. I have no problem with that.”

As the exchange intensified, Singhar again referred to the alleged remarks by Vijayvargiya, saying: “More than 1.25 lakh students are giving the NEET exam… should there not be a discussion on these students of the state and, on the contrary, the Parliamentary Minister is calling them cockroaches”.

Treasury benches again objected. Sarang said: “Nothing has been said that it should be deleted.” Singhar replied: “It’s on record, in your video. Your government provided this tablet, and your recording is inside it”.

Intervening, the Speaker said he had heard both sides and would examine the issue, asking members to allow the House proceedings to continue. Singhar, however, persisted with his demand, saying: “The students of the state have been wronged. Examinations are a serious issue. Shouldn’t there be a discussion about the future of the state’s students and youth?”