The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Motion of Thanks on the president’s address without Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving his customary reply, as Opposition MPs continued their protest, PTI reported.
This was the first time since 2004 that the prime minister has not replied to the Motion of Thanks in the Lok Sabha, the Hindustan Times reported. In 2004, the Bharatiya Janata Party, in Opposition at the time, had prevented Manmohan Singh from responding to the motion, the Congress said on Thursday.
The Opposition has for the past three days been protesting against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi not being allowed to quote an excerpt of an unpublished memoir of former Indian Army chief MM Naravane about the political decision-making during the 2020 border tensions between India and China.
On Thursday, amid sloganeering, Speaker Om Birla put the Opposition’s amendments to the Motion of Thanks to vote and the proposed changes were rejected, PTI reported.
Birla then read out the Motion of Thanks to the President Droupadi Murmu for her customary address to the joint session of Parliament on January 28. It was approved by a voice vote.
After this, the proceedings of the Lower House were adjourned till 2 pm.
On Wednesday, Gandhi said that he had predicted that the prime minister would not come to Parliament because “he is scared” and “does not want to face the truth” about Naravane’s unpublished memoir.
Earlier in the day, the Congress leader had said that did not think that Modi “will have the guts to come to the Lok Sabha today [Wednesday]”, adding that he would give the prime minister a copy of Naravane’s memoir if he came to Parliament.
Gandhi’s comment that the prime minister was scared came after the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day before Modi could address the House during the debate on the Motion of Thanks.
Modi was expected to speak in the Lower House at 5 pm on Wednesday. However, the proceedings were adjourned until 11 am on Thursday because of protests by the Opposition.
On Thursday, Birla said that he had urged the prime minister not to come to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday to avoid a “mishap”.
“Everyone saw how the [Opposition] MPs approached the prime minister’s chair in the House...” Birla said in Parliament. “I got information that any mishap could have happened. To ensure that such a situation does not arise, I conveyed to PM Modi not to come to the House.”
The protests by the Opposition on Wednesday had intensified after BJP leader Nishikant Dubey said he brought a series of books allegedly critical of the Gandhi family.
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