Shafaqna India: Uproarious scenes in the Lok Sabha over the Opposition’s ongoing protests against Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi not being allowed to speak led to another washout of proceedings of the House on Wednesday. The disruption forced the postponement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s scheduled response to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address.
Notably, Rahul had been trying to quote excerpts from former Army Chief MM Naravane’s memoirs and attacking the Centre for alleged “indecisiveness” during the 2020 Doklam standoff.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey reading out from a series of books inside the House despite Speaker Om Birla’s ruling barring members from doing so, especially after Rahul was disallowed to read excerpts from Naravane’s memoirs, added to the drama.
There were several adjournments since morning, including the one just before 5 pm when the House reconvened for the Prime Minister’s reply. As soon as the Lok Sabha reassembled at 5 pm and shortly before Modi was expected to speak, some women MPs from the Opposition, including Varsha Gaikwad and Jyotimani, blocked the seats of ruling party members, including Modi’s chair. They held a large banner reading “Do what is right”, protesting the Tuesday’s suspension of eight Opposition MPs and Rahul not being allowed to speak in the House.
BJP MP Sandhya Rai, who was chairing the proceedings, adjourned the House for the day within 20 seconds, even as BJP lawmaker PP Chaudhary was in the middle of his speech during the Motion of Thanks discussion. The women MPs ended their blockade only after several ministers urged them to move away.