Rahul Gandhi likely to speak in debate on intolerance in Parliament today

There were repeated adjournments in the Lok Sabha after CPI(M) member  parliamentarian Mohd Salim accused the Home Minister of saying, after Narendra Modi and BJP's victory last year, that India had the first "Hindu ruler after 800 years."

Rajnath Singh denied the quote attributed to him by the newsmagazine Outlook and demanded an apology. "I have never been hurt as much as I have been today in my entire Parliamentary career," he said.

The magazine later apologised saying the quote had been "erroneously attributed" to the Home Minister when in fact, it was said by Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal, who died last month.

After repeated disruptions, the debate resumed after Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said  Salim's remarks would be expunged from the records.
The Congress party's KC Venugopal accused the government of "politics of communalism" and using Hinduism for political interests. "People expressing their views are being killed. People are killed for eating what they want. People are getting threatening letters for voicing differences," he said.

The debate is being held  over the 'growing incidence of intolerance', as the opposition puts it, citing the examples of  the killing of rationalists, mob attacks over cow slaughter and beef-eating rumours and controversial pronouncements by members of the ruling BJP.