Not new to controversies, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan on Thursday got into a fresh row in Lok Sabha over his certain remarks for a woman Chair that drew flak from the treasury benches.
“Main toh apko itna dekhoon ke aap kahein hata loon main apni nazar. Aap itni pyari hain, Mann karta hai aapki ankhon mein dekhta hi rahoon (I would look into your eyes so much that you are compelled to ask me to move my eyes away from you. You are so lovely that I feel like keep looking into your eyes,” Khan said after BJP member Rama Devi, who was in the Chair, asked him not to look here and there and address the Chair.
He was participating in a debate on the Triple Talaq Bill when he made the comments.
As members from the BJP got agitated and began demanding an apology from him, terming his words as “cunning and disrespectful to a woman,” Khan was quick to say that Rama was “a lovely sister” to him.
While his explanation failed to cut ice with the ruling party members, the National Commission for Women also stepped in later slamming the SP leader terming his remarks as "objectionable" and demanding that he should be disqualified from the Parliament.
As the BJP members continued with the uproar in the House, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla intervened to bring the House in order and remarked that members in the House must maintain decency when they speak and refrain from using unparliamentary words.
SP leader Akhilesh Yadav tried to defend Khan saying he did not speak anything unparliamentary but was shouted down by the BJP members who were adamant on an apology from Khan.
This is not the first time Khan landed his party in an embarrassing situation with his remarks
In the run-up to Lok Sabha polls, he had made objectionable remarks against actor-turned-politician Jaya Prada who contesting on a BJP ticket. The police lodged an FIR against Khan for insulting the modesty of a woman.