Noisy scenes in Assembly over using Biblical verse to ‘denigrate’ Opposition

Thiruvananthapuram: The Assembly saw noisy scenes on Wednesday over remarks made by M. Swaraj (CPI-M) during second day of the general discussion on the revised Budget on Tuesday.

Raising the issue, V. D. Satheesan (Congress) said that the Member had denigrated the Opposition by citing a verse (Mathew 7, 6) from the Bible after describing the Budget as holy. The verse, though Mr. Swaraj did not read it out, was aimed at the Opposition. The Member’s remark should be expunged.

(Mathew 7.6 read: “Do not give what is holy to dogs—they will only turn and attack you. Do not throw your pearls in front of pigs—they will only trample them underfoot.”)

Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala said that Opposition members had been indirectly referred as dogs and pigs.

Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan said that he did not know Biblical verses by heart and would examine the reference. However, the Opposition pressed for a response from Chief Minister Pinarai Vijayan.

The Chief Minister said that the Opposition did not denigrate the Opposition. The Speaker was examining the matter and would give a ruling.