Protests block PM, Lok Sabha adjourned again
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's scheduled reply to the Motion of Thanks for the President’s address in Lok Sabha had to be cancelled on Wednesday after massive protests by the Opposition.
Sources said women Parliamentarians from the Opposition had parked themselves near where PM Modi sits in the Lok Sabha and simultaneously obstructed the aisle where he would have walked to reach his seat. They refused to budge even after Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw requested to honour the arrival of PM, sources said.
PM was outside the Parliament premises and he had reached before time to attend the lower house which assembled at 5 pm after an adjournment at 2pm due to massive protest by the Opposition, they added.
Sources said that PM Modi may now deliver the Motion of Thanks speech in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday and then in Lok Sabha after talks between the representatives of treasury and Opposition benches reaches to resolve the crisis to pave a way out for Modi’s thanks motion.
“Perhaps it could be a rare instance in recent decades that PM was not allowed to speak in the Parliament and the opposition will be held responsible for making a mockery of Parliamentary democracy,” said a ruling party MP. He also informed that “options” are being explored to examine where there has been a breach of privilege by the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi for bringing and displaying an unpublished book in the Parliament premises.
It was the second adjournment of the day after the ruckus — on since Rahul Gandhi’s proposed speech quoting the unpublished “memoir” of former Army chief MM Naravane -- escalated over comments by the BJP’s Nishikant Dubey. Dubey said while Rahul Gandhi wants to speak about an unpublished book, he has brought a series of books to expose the Gandhi family. Then he started listing the books on the floor of the House.
After the House was adjourned, Congress MPs met Speaker Om Birla to protest the Chair’s decision to allow Dubey to speak quoting from books, contending that the Leader of the Opposition had been denied such an opportunity. Opposition members are now demanding suspension of Dubey from the House for his remarks.
