A scuffle between ruling NDA and INDIA bloc MPs broke out in Parliament on Thursday as both sides protested against each other, alleging disrespect towards Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, a Dalit icon and India's first law minister.
Amid the chaos, BJP MPs Pratap Chandra Sarangi and Mukesh Rajput sustained injuries and were later admitted to Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, as per reports.
Following the incident, the Balasore MP told the media that Rahul Gandhi pushed a BJP MP, causing him to fall on Sarangi, resulting in his injury.
Shortly after Sarangi's statement, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi denied the allegation, claiming that BJP MPs were threatening him and preventing him from entering Parliament.
Parliament witnessed uproar today as leaders from both the ruling and opposition parties staged protests at Makar Gate.
The aggressive demonstrations were triggered by Union Minister Amit Shah's statement on Dr. Ambedkar in the Rajya Sabha, which led opposition parties to demand his resignation.
Who is Pratap Chandra Sarangi?
Pratap Chandra Sarangi is a BJP MP representing Odisha's Balasore constituency. Before being elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019, he served as the MLA for the Nilgiri Assembly constituency in the Odisha Legislative Assembly from 2004 to 2014.
In 2014, he contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Balasore constituency but did not succeed.
Sarangi served as the minister of state for micro, small, and medium enterprises, as well as fisheries, animal husbandry, and dairying, until July 2021.
He gained significant attention on social media in 2019 when he took the oath as Balasore MP. A photo of him wearing a simple kurta-pajama and leaving his bamboo hut to take the oath went viral, earning widespread admiration. Many praised his humility and applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for empowering leaders deeply rooted in simplicity and service.
Born in January 1955 in the village of Gopinathpur, Nilagiri, Balasore, Sarangi comes from a Brahmin family. From a young age, he was a spiritual seeker and aspired to become a monk of the Ramakrishna Math.
However, controversy surrounds Sarangi due to allegations linking him to the tragic 1999 incident in which Australian Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two children were burned to death while sleeping in their station wagon in Manoharpur, Keonjhar, Odisha. At the time, Sarangi was the chief of the Bajrang Dal, and a group associated with the organisation was accused of the attack.
Sarangi and 10 others were initially convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime. However, the Odisha High Court later acquitted them, citing insufficient evidence.
