New Delhi: Speaker Om Birla revealed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday that on his request, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi It was decided not to come to the Lok Sabha to reply to the President’s address as he had concrete information that the opposition members protesting near Modi’s designated seat might do something “unexpected”.“If such an unpleasant act had taken place, the spectacle of it would have torn this country’s democratic tradition to shreds,” he said amid protests by opposition lawmakers.
Modi’s scheduled last-minute reply to the motion of thanks for the president’s address on Wednesday was canceled due to outcry from opposition lawmakers, with some female lawmakers lingering near the prime minister’s seat ahead of his expected arrival. Many other members are from congress Regional political parties have raised protest slogans, including bjp MP Nishikant Dubey referred to several books that made unkind references to members of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Birla said, “Yesterday the entire country was focused on this incident, how some women members got there. This is not befitting the dignity of the House.”Birla also made it clear to the opposition parties that if they continue to bring posters and pamphlets into the House, the House will not be able to function “either today or tomorrow” and asked them to express their views in accordance with parliamentary tradition.Motion discussion on LoP stalled since Monday Rahul GandhiNot allowed due to insistence on citing an unpublished book written by former Army Chief MM Naravane and Birla, the Lok Sabha passed the motion by voice vote without Modi’s reply, for the first time since the start of the NDA regime in 2014, although not without precedent. Birla also expressed displeasure over loud protests by opposition members in his office – an apparent reference to their displeasure with Dube’s speech – and slammed it as a “black spot” in the parliamentary assembly. Never before has a member of Congress brought their political differences to the Speaker’s office in this way.“It is inappropriate for the Leader of the House (PM) not to speak.” He thanked Modi for accepting his request aimed at maintaining the dignity of the House.Priyanka says this is an absolute lie; Rahul claims PM is hiding behind BirlaThe Congress on Thursday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of seeking cover behind the Speaker as it refuted the president’s statement that the Prime Minister skipped his scheduled reply to the motion of thanks in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday out of fear that the Congresswoman might trigger an unprecedented incident against the BJP mascot. It also said Om Birla’s statement was dictated by the Modi government.Rahul Gandhi said, “Modi was so afraid of the truth that he took refuge in lies. Khair, jo uchit samjha, woh kiya (Anyway, he did what he thought was appropriate)” – a quote in Hindi that satirized what General Naravane said about the Prime Minister’s stance during Chinese aggression.Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said: “They asked the Speaker to say all this because yesterday he (the Prime Minister) did not have the courage to come to the house. Because three women were standing in front of his bench?”Priyanka asked what was strange if a female MP was standing in front of the finance bench. “There’s no question that anyone raised their hands to the prime minister or tried to hurt him or anything like that. There’s no question about it. It’s an absolute lie.”The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party severely condemned the opposition parties for preventing Prime Minister Modi from delivering a speech on the presidential address. Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh recalled that on June 10, 2004, the Bharatiya Janata Party prevented then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from delivering a speech on the motion of thanks. Ramesh posted on March 10, 2005 inRamesh said, “…we need to put it on record that in 2004 the BJP did not allow UPA Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to reply to the motion of thanks, even though the House had concluded the discussion on the motion and only Singh’s reply remained.”
