NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha witnessed a light-hearted banter between Union home minister Amit Shah and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday over the Bharatiya Janata Party's next president.
Akhilesh Yadav, who was speaking during a debate on Waqf Amendment Bill moved by Union minister Kiren Rijiju, said, "The minister said it [the Bill] is 'umeed' (hope). In [the statements made in] both Hindi and English, I could not understand how this Bill became a hope." He was referring to government's move to rename Waqf Bill to Unified Waqf Management Empowerment, Efficiency and Development Bill, or in short, UMEED Bill.
"There a competition within the BJP right now, to find out who is the worse Hindu. I am not saying this jut like that. The party which claims that it the biggest party has not been able to chose its own national president yet," Akhilesh said that led to some NDA MPs raising objection.
The House camera showed Amit Shah laughing and signalling his MPs to wait and not raise objections.
Akhilesh himself by now had burst into laughter.
Within seconds, Amit Shah stood up from his seat and replied, "
Haste haste kaha hai, iska haste haste jawab dunga [He has said this smiling so I will also reply in the same manner]."
"All the parties sitting ... only the five members of a family has to chose their president. We [BJP] have to chose one through a due process ... 12-13 crore members will chose our president, so obviously there will be a delay," Shah said while responding to the jibe.
"There’s never a delay in your case. I say this to you — you will remain president for the next 25 years," Shah quipped.
Akhilesh while indirectly talking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, said, "The trip that was taken today, was it the one to seek extension of age 75?"
He was referring to reported age limit within BJP that says a person must retire at the age of 75. The BJP, however, has categorically denied that there is such a limit in the party.
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