New Delhi: The Lok Sabha witnessed another stormy day on Tuesday as eight opposition MPs were suspended for the remainder of the Parliament session for throwing torn papers towards the Chair. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was also not allowed to speak as he insisted on quoting from a former Army Chief’s memoir.
The House saw massive uproar as Gandhi repeatedly attempted to quote from an article citing former Army chief M.M. Naravane’s unpublished “memoir”. Opposition MPs also demanded a discussion on the trade deal finalised between India and the United States. At the start of the session, Gandhi said he had authenticated a copy of the article in the Lok Sabha, but this failed to resolve the impasse, leading to multiple adjournments.
With Gandhi continuing to press the issue, Chair Krishna Prasad Tenneti moved on to other speakers and called TDP MP Harish Balayogi, an NDA constituent, to speak on the President’s address after three opposition MPs refused to do so in solidarity with Gandhi. As Balayogi spoke, opposition members raised slogans, prompting the Chair to adjourn the House till 3 pm.
When the House resumed at 4 pm, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju moved a motion to suspend opposition MPs Manickam Tagore, Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, Prashant Padole, Dean Kuriakose, Kiran Kumar Reddy, and CPI(M) MP S. Venkatesh for the remainder of the session. The motion was adopted, after which the Chair adjourned the House for the day.
Earlier, Tenneti asked Congress MP K.C. Venugopal to address the Chair properly and avoid casual references. As soon as Gandhi was called to speak on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, he cited the Speaker’s ruling from Monday and reiterated that he had authenticated the article.
“I have authenticated it,” he said. As per rules, authentication requires a signed declaration affirming that the document is correct to the best of the member’s knowledge.
Tenneti asked Gandhi to table the document, saying it would be examined. Rijiju said the Speaker had already ruled on the issue and that Gandhi should not raise it repeatedly.
Gandhi, however, insisted that as the Leader of Opposition, he objected to the use of the word “permission” in reference to his right to speak. As the deadlock continued, the Chair adjourned the proceedings.
Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Gandhi said he was not allowed to speak because Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “scared”. He alleged that the Prime Minister had “buckled” under US pressure to finalise the trade deal and had “sold out” the hard work of Indian farmers.
Gandhi also claimed it was the first time in history that a Leader of Opposition had not been allowed to speak on the President’s address.
“We need to understand why a trade deal stuck for about four months was suddenly finalised last evening,” he said, alleging there was “huge pressure” on Prime Minister Modi.
Asked to elaborate, Gandhi referred to a case against industrialist Gautam Adani in the US and said more disclosures were expected in the Epstein files. He alleged that the Prime Minister had been “compromised” and that Indian farmers’ “blood and sweat” had been “sold out” through the India–US trade deal.
A similar row had erupted in the Lok Sabha on Monday when Gandhi sought to quote from an unpublished memoir of the former Army chief on the 2020 India-China conflict. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and other BJP members strongly objected, accusing Gandhi of misleading the House. Speaker Om Birla disallowed the reference, leading to repeated adjournments amid heated exchanges between the treasury and opposition benches. (Agencies)
