Daijiworld Media Network

New Delhi, Jul 26: The Congress has criticised President of India Ram Nath Kovind for omitting the name of Jawaharlal Nehru in his inaugural speech and equating Mahatma Gandhi with Jan Sangh leader Deen Dayal Upadhyay.

In what can be termed as an ‘uproar’ in Rajya Sabha, opposition leader Anand Sharma hit back saying, “Gandhi ji has done a lot for the nation and his equation with Deen Dayal Upadhyaya was a big disrespect. Jawahar Lal Nehru and Indira Gandhi's names were not even taken”.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad also came in support of Sharma and blamed the Centre for constantly disrespecting the Nehru family and called the omission of names as ‘deliberate’.

Meanwhile, Union Defense Minister Arun Jaitley reacted sharply to the statements by Congress leaders and said "the Chair should be guided that the zero hour can't run only for the benefit of the television channels”.

This enraged Congress even more with Azad saying, "I would request the Chair to remove the comment from the record. We never speak for television camera because most of the channels cover the ruling party. They have no freedom for the last three years," he said.

The chairperson, however, did not allow a discussion on the argument calling it "irrelevant".

In his maiden address to the nation as the 14th President of India, Kovind said that India’s independence was the result of efforts of thousands of patriotic freedom fighters led by Mahatma Gandhi. “Later, Sardar Patel integrated our nation. Principal architect of our Constitution Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar instilled in us the value of human dignity and of republican ethic.”

He called for the need “to sculpt a robust, high growth economy, an educated, ethical and shared community, and an egalitarian society, as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi and Deen Dayal Upadhyay ji”.