BJP lawmakers angry with Rahul Gandhi's appropriation of a government initiative's name -- Make in India -- to decry sexual violence, protested so vociferously in the Lok Sabha this morning that proceedings had to be adjourned.
The Rajya Sabha, too, was adjourned, after similar protests. Rahul Gandhi used the term "Rape in India" to criticise sexual crimes at an election rally in Godda district, Jharkhand, on Thursday.
The government is livid. Visibly angry MPs tore into Rahul this morning in the Lok Sabha; one of them, Arjun Ram Meghwal, the junior minister for parliamentary affairs, said the Congressman should apologise.
Union Minister Smriti Irani, a longtime rival of Rahul Gandhi's who wrested his Amethi seat from him this year, said he had given "a clarion call" that Indian women should be raped.
When Kanimozhi, a DMK MP, defended Rahul Gandhi's comments, Irani said she was "disgusted" and "extremely disheartened" that she couldn't transcend party divisions even on an issue such as crimes against women.
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Rahul Gandhi, the MP from Wayanad, was not present in the House at the time. He had arrived by the time proceedings resumed shortly after noon, but they were soon adjourned again.
The Lok Sabha was later adjourned sine die; today is the last day of the Winter Session of Parliament.