Addressing the 250th session of Rajya Sabha on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the House as the soul of parliament and has a far-sighted vision. He said that the journey to the 250th session has been the journey of ideas.

The winter session of the Parliament began today and it will continue till December 13. The first day in the Parliament began with dramatic situations in Lok Sabha.

Soon after the House assembled for the day, the Congress and some opposition parties started raising slogans demanding response from the Prime Minister over National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah’s detention as well on the instability in Kashmir.

As the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla invited Telugu Desam Party MP Kesineni Srinivas for the first question during the question hour, the protesting MPs started sloganeering.

An adjournment motion notice was also given by the Trinamool Congress over Abdullah detention.

Another voice raised in the House was of Shiv Sena which demanded immediate relief for the farmers affected by the unseasonal rains in parts of Maharashtra. Its MPs even staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha.

As soon the Lok Sabha speaker completed the obituary references, the Sena MPs stood on their seats and started shouting slogans saying, “we need justice for farmers”.

Read: Shiv Sena stages walkout from LS over farmers issue, seeks immediate relief

Meanwhile the Rajya Sabha marked its 250th session which was addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The House has seen many historic moments. There was discussion among the Constitution makers on whether to have one house of two. But it is a significant contribution by them to give us two separate houses,” said PM Modi.

Pointing out two specialties of the Rajya Sabha, PM Modi said, “One of the specialty of the House is that it is eternal and the second one is that it is diverse. Lok Sabha gets dissolved but Rajya Sabha is eternal. Representations of different states is priority of the House.”

He also said that the federal structure of the nation is evident in the Rajya Sabha.

PM Modi further said that the Rajya Sabha has benefitted those who were not able be appointed to the Parliament through democratic elections but are crucial part of the society in the decision making process.

“Rajya Sabha has benefitted veterans from different fields including arts, science and sports,” he said.

Supporting his statement, he gave example of Baba Saheb Ambedkar and said that he was not elected to Lok Sabha but came to Rajya Sabha and played a crucial role.

He pointed out at crucial bills that were passed in the Rajya Sabha including GST, Triple Talaq, 10% reservation to EWS, and abrogation of Article 370.

He also recalled how Article 370, giving special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, was introduced in the Upper House by N Gopalaswami Ayyangar, who was also the first leader of Rajya Sabha, and decades later revoked in the same house.

Going back in history he said in 2003, the Rajya Sabha marked its 200th session and at that time also NDA was ruling and Atal Bihari Vajpayee was Prime Minister.

“Atal Ji during his speech on the occassion said that ‘No one should make the mistake of treating our second House as the secondary house'”, PM Modi said.

“Today, I echo the sentiments of Atal Ji and add that the Rajya Sabha must be a vibrant supportive house for national progress,” he added.

He further said that the central and the state government should work together for the benefit of the country by making the national and regional interest.

Later, PM Modi praised the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata PArty (BJD) for their discipline and ideologies.

“These parties have wonderfully adhered to Parliamentary norms. They have never ventured into the well. Yet, they have made their points very effectively. Much can be learnt from these practices,” he said.

He said that other political parties should also learn to stick to ideologies from these parties.