PM’s reply deferred as protest stalls Lok Sabha; scared Modi ran away, says opposition

NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday could not deliver his customary speech during the debate on the motion of thanks to the President’s address because of the adjournment forced by the opposition, whose women members charged towards the treasury benches raising slogans and holding banners.

Modi was scheduled to reach Lok Sabha when presiding officer Sandhya Rai, in for Speaker Om Birla, adjourned the House for the day to avert a clash that had seemed imminent because of counter-mobilisation of members, especially women, by the governing side.




Modi is now expected to speak in Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The adjournment was a fallout of the stand-off between the two sides over Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s insistence on citing the unpublished book of former Army chief, Gen M M Naravane. The confrontation intensified due to what was seen as a tit-for-tat response by BJP member Nishikant Dubey, who sought to quote from books replete with unflattering references to members of the Gandhi-Nehru clan.

Though the chair adjourned the House for the day, several opposition MPs questioned why Dubey was allowed speak. Congress members later met Speaker Birla and demanded his suspension.

Speaker slams oppn MPs for Naravane banners

The House witnessed similar protests during the question hour, and amid din, Speaker Om Birla adjourned proceedings till 12 noon. When the House re-assembled, opposition MPs were on their feet raising slogans against the govt over the issue of stand-off with China in 2020, referring to certain matters related to the unpublished “memoir” of General Naravane.

Congress members had brought banners and posters featuring Naravane and defence minister Rajnath Singh, while Rahul was seen flashing a book in the House.

The Speaker urged members to maintain dignity of the House and slammed the opposition for displaying banners and posters. The House was then adjourned till 2 pm. Later, the House was adjourned till 5 pm following an uproar over Dubey’s remarks targeting the Gandhi family. It was adjourned for the day by Rai.

Scared Modi ran away from House, claim oppn MPs

After the PM’s no-show in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi said Narendra Modi feared being gifted General M M Naravane’s memoirs that narrate his account as Army chief during the 2020 Chinese aggression.

Rahul remarked, “As I had said, PM will not come to LS because he does not want to face the truth.”

Earlier Wednesday, Rahul dramatically posed in the Parliament complex with Naravane’s book “Four Stars to Destiny” that he was not allowed to cite in his speech on the motion of thanks to the President’s address, telling reporters, “I don’t think the PM will have the guts to come to LS today. If he comes, I will give him this book so that... he knows his reality.”

After three days of logjam, the anti-BJP camp was excited that the PM had to back down from his scheduled speech for fear of disruptions. After the abrupt end to the evening’s proceedings, Trinamool Congress’ Kalyan Banerjee said, “He ran away for fear of the opposition.”

Congress MP K C Venugopal said govt was making a mockery of Parliament, and the PM should be asked why he did not come for his speech. Congress MP Manickam Tagore said since the LOP was not allowed to speak in LS, the PM’s address too had to be cancelled. “This is the first time in parliamentary history... The united voice of 239 MPs will make India stronger,” he said.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also said Modi was too scared to come to the House. “The rail minister and Nishikant Dubey ran away like a bullet train,” she mocked.

Quoting from the book to reporters, Rahul alleged Modi had abdicated responsibility during the Ladakh crisis. He said Naravane has said that he felt abandoned. He said the govt was now trying to deny the very existence of the book despite it being in the public domain.

Rahul added that every young Indian should read the retired General’s detailed first-hand account of events in Ladakh.
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