The famous Sonia and Vajpayee verbal clash in Parliament

References: http://www.expressindia.com/news/fullstory.php?newsid=8693

The event: Joint Sitting of both houses in Central Hall on Mar 26th 2002. POTO was to be debated and here are some of the selected sentences (tried to convert to Hindi from English words found on news articles. Please forgive me if the language is not apt or speech is distorted):

Sonia: "Pradhan Mantri ji, aap ka waqt agaya hain. Aap to aapki kursi ki garima bachani hogi athava sangh parivar ke dabav mein kaam karna hoga. Aap ki ganana ka waqt agaya hain"

Vajpayee could not tolerate these chosen words. He treated them as personal attack on his integrity and selfless dedication of his political career. He reacted strongly (like how Bheeshma reacted to Shishupal's scathing attack on him)


Vajpayee: "Main is charcha main nahin padna chahta tha. Lekin vipaksh ki neta ne mujhe majboor kar diya hain. Mujh par yeh aarop lagaaya jaa raha hain ki dabav mein kam karta hoon. Yeh Achi baat nahin hain. Main kisi ke dabav mein kam nahin karta. Mera Sansadiya kaam iska saakshi hain. Main pradhan mantri bana to congress ki meharbani se nahin, balki congress ke virodh ke bavajud. Jab tak log chahenge main pradhan mantri bana rahoonga. Main aap ko bata sakta hoon ki pichle kitne pradhan mantriyone kis kis ke dabav main aake kya kya kaam kiya hain. Aap ke party ne videshi dabav mein akar anu asthra parikhsa rok diya tha. Sab tarikhe tayaar thi. Lekin videshi dabav main aake parikha ko radh kar diya gaya? Humne sabke dabav ke chalte huye bhi anu parikhsa kar dikhaya hain. Jab kargil main yudh ho raha tha, to Clinton ji ne hamse Pakistan se baat kar ne ka dabav dala. Lekin humne keh diya- Jab tak ek phuta zamin pakistan ke saath hain, hum baat nahin karenge. Sab cheezon ki seema hoti hain. sab chup ho jaye. Vipaksh ko kadava sach sun ne ki adat nahin hain. Sonia ji kehna kya chahti hain? Woh hoti kaun hai? Jab woh Italy main thi aur rajniti se koson door this, main 1957 se bharat aur bharat ke rajniti main kaam kiya hain. Har roj ek agni parikhsa se guzarte hain. aaj aap mujhe khatgare main khada karna chahti hain? Kya adhikar hain aap ko? Apne desh ko aap se jyada jaante hain. Aap ke kehna ka matlab kya hain? Aap mujhe yaad kyon dila rahi hain ki meri pramukh kartavya kya hain aur sangh parivar ke dabav main na aye. yeh parivar ka mamla hain. Aap dakhal mat dijiye"

In short, Sonia reminded Vajapyee that his moment of reckoning had come and he had to decide between PM's post and buckling under Sangh Parivar's pressure and pass that POTO. Vajpayee started telling he shouldn't be reminded of his primary duties by an outsider who has had no poliltical experience. In an acrimonious reaction he said that their(Congress) previous governments worked under several pressures and sacrificed the interest of the country and that his government conducted nuclear tests despite international pressure. She had no right to challenge his primary responsibility. It was a matter of his family and therefore dared her not to interfere.