Lok Sabha was Wednesday adjourned till tomorrow (Thursday) amid ruckus and heavy sloganeering by Opposition MPs over Tuesday’s suspension of eight Congress MPs, who were protesting against the Speaker’s decision not to allow Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi to make a reference to General MM Narvane’s unpublished book.
The House was adjourned shortly after it resumed at 5 PM. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to address the lower house during the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s Address but the adjournment derailed the day’s legislative business. The proceedings will now resume at 11 am on Thursday.
After the adjournment, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took a dig at Modi, saying the PM didn’t arrive at the House as he got scared.
“He (PM Modi) got scared and that’s why he did not arrive at the House…Union Railway Minister and BJP MP Nishikant Dubey ran away like a bullet train…,” she quipped.
Rahul Gandhi echoed her and said that the PM doesn’t want to face the truth. “As I said, PM Modi will not come to Parliament because he is scared and does not want to face the truth,” he posted on X.
Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal also slammed the government after the adjournment. “You ask the PM, why he is not coming. Is this a Parliament or any other centre? The govt is trying to make it a mockery. We are not going to allow all this.”
The confrontation between the government and the Opposition began on Monday when BJP MP Tejashwi Surya, while participating in the debate on motion of thanks to the President’s Address, allegedly questioned the patriotism of the Congress party.
When Rahul Gandhi began to speak, he referred to Surya’s speech and sought to “expose” the government, claiming the leadership could not act decisively during the 2020 India-China border conflict in Ladakh.
Rahul, citing a magazine article on former Army Chief General MM Narvane’s unpublished memoir, claimed that Chinese tanks entered the Indian territory, prompting a strong protest from the Treasury benches.
Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, and Kiren Rijiju objected to Rahul citing an unpublished book. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also asked Rahul not to cite unauthenticated material.
The standoff continued on Tuesday as well as Rahul was adamant on citing Narvane’s unpublished book. As the situation escalated, some MPs allegedly tore papers and threw the pieces towards the Chair, prompting the Speaker to suspend eight Congress MPs for the remaining the Budget Session.
As the proceedings resumed today, the Opposition MPs continued to raise slogans against the suspension of MPs.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, while speaking in the House, levelled serious allegations against former PMs Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. He referred to certain books on Nehru-Gandhi family, prompting massive protests from the Opposition MPs.
The Congress MPs also went to the Speaker’s chamber and argued with the BJP MPs, including Rijiju and Dubey, who were also present there.
Outside the House, the Opposition MPs also staged a protest and raised slogans such as “PM is Compromised” and “LoP ko bolne do” (Let the LoP speak).
Rahul Gandhi, meanwhile, accused the Centre of avoiding scrutiny on national security, after he was repeatedly stopped from speaking in Parliament while citing former Army Chief General MM Narvane’s “memoir”.
He also brought a copy of Narvane’s book and said he would present it to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming it exposes how political leadership left the army to act alone during the 2020 China border crisis.
Amid the Parliament standoff with the government, the opposition parties have been called a meeting tomorrow morning to discuss strategy for the remaining Budget session. The meeting will be held at 10 AM in Rajya Sabha LoP Mallikarjun Kharge’s room in the Parliament building.