Antulay enters Parliament on Monday. (Rajesh Kumar)

New Delhi, Dec. 22: He was called a Pakistani agent, an ISI dalal, Zardari’s mole and Dawood’s brother. A.R. Antulay just kept grinning.

The minority affairs minister, who has weathered many storms in his long political life, betrayed no sign of nervousness today as belligerent NDA members in the Lok Sabha raged against his continuance in the Union cabinet.

He kept needling them, egging them on to yell louder, during the most vicious slogan-shouting the House has witnessed in the recent past.

After question hour, the NDA members didn’t allow Lok Sabha to function normally, causing four adjournments by screaming from the well even as four bills were tabled and five passed without discussion. They linked the former Maharashtra chief minister to gangster Dawood Ibrahim, Pakistan and terrorists.

Antulay looked on cheerfully, often gesticulating at BJP members and poking fun at them. He would flash the victory sign one moment, his thumb the next.

He enthusiastically greeted his colleagues and shook hands with Muslim MPs who walked across to his seat to salute his bravery. The Congress’s Shakeel Ahmed and the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s M.A.A. Fatmi, both ministers, never left Antulay’s side, smiling and patting him all the while.

When BJP members burst into cries of “Desh ka gaddar hai (he’s the country’s traitor)”, Fatmi got up to counter them with “Desh ka sardar hai (he’s the country’s leader)”.

The RJD members were the most vocal in Antulay’s support, repeatedly raising Pragya Singh Thakur and Malegaon. Antulay appeared to enjoy sympathy from the treasury benches: most UPA members felt he had done no wrong.

Even some Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party MPs felt the old man was being “targeted unnecessarily”. Antulay too protested his innocence before the media outside the House.

Mobbed by reporters and camera crew after the Lok Sabha adjourned for the day, Antulay appeared happy to be the centre of attraction. He argued he had said nothing wrong and “the media should have demonstrated greater intelligence in the entire episode”.

He added: “No fool — nobody — will say that Karkare was not killed by Pakistani terrorists. I know he was killed by them. I only said who asked Karkare not to go to the Taj. I am not saying anything in favour of Pakistan. I will seek permission from the Chair tomorrow to clarify my position. I want to reiterate I said nothing to suggest that Karkare was killed by somebody else.”