'Unprecedented': Lok Sabha passes Motion of Thanks on President's address without PM's speech; first since 2004

NEW DELHI: The Budget session of Parliament witnessed an unprecedented move as the Lok Sabha passed the Motion of Thanks on the President's address without the customary reply by the prime minister.This is the first time since 2004, when the motion was passed without the PM's reply. In 2004, then PM Manmohan Singh was "prevented by the BJP from speaking". The prime minister was absent from the House on Thursday as well when Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla took up the opposition’s amendments to the Motion of Thanks for voting, all of which were defeated. The Speaker subsequently read out the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address to both Houses on January 28, and it was adopted through a voice vote despite continued sloganeering by opposition MPs.PM Modi was set to speak on Wednesday at 5pm, however, he did not arrive in the Lok Sabha. As the session began, the opposition women MPs surrounded the PM's chair displaying posters in protest. The House was adjourned amid ruckus and speech was eventually cancelled.PM Modi is now likely to address the Rajya Sabha, where the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address has proceeded without any interruptions.Congress invoked a 2004 precedent to counter current criticism, recalling that then prime minister Manmohan Singh was stopped by the BJP from replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address on June 10 that year. "To recall and remind - on June 10 2004, the Prime Minister was prevented by the BJP from speaking on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address," Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X.He also shared an old video of Manmohan speech the subsequent year when he said in the House that it was a "hard earned privilege for me since I have had to wait out the entire year to perform this happy task."“Mr Speaker, Sir, | deem it a great privilege to be standing here today to express the gratitude of our Government to the respected Rashtrapatiji for his address to Members of both Houses of Parliament. Sir, this is a hard earned privilege for me since I have had to wait out the entire year to perform this happy task. | would like to take this opportunity to doubly thank the President—for his Address last year and his Address this year,” Ramesh quoted Singh saying.