An extraordinary situation was witnessed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday during the budget session of Parliament. This happened for the first time after 2004 when the motion of thanks on President Draupadi Murmu’s address was passed without the Prime Minister’s reply. Amid continuous uproar and opposition, the Speaker approved the proposal by voice vote.
PM Modi could not answer
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to reply to the motion of thanks on the President’s address on Wednesday. But due to continuous sloganeering and disruption by the opposition MPs, the Speaker adjourned the Lok Sabha proceedings.
Motion passed by voice vote amid uproar
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla read out the motion of thanks for the President’s address given in the joint session of Parliament on January 28. It was passed by voice vote amidst the noise of the opposition.
Opposition protests continue, House adjourned
With no sign of the protests stopping, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings of the House till 2 pm. The proceedings, which started at 11 am on Thursday, also had to be postponed shortly.
The issue of not allowing Rahul Gandhi to speak
Opposition MPs raised the issue of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi not getting a chance to speak in the Lok Sabha. The opposition alleges that the government stopped Rahul Gandhi from speaking in the House and he was not allowed to cite the unpublished memoir of former Army Chief MM Naravane related to the 2020 China border dispute.
Eight Congress MPs suspended
The clash between the government and the opposition escalated on Tuesday, when eight Congress MPs were suspended for the rest of the budget session on charges of undisciplined behaviour.
This is the video of Dr Manmohan Singh’s speech on March 10 2005 – where he refers to the fact that he was prevented from replying to the Motion of Thanks on June 10, 2004 pic.twitter.com/uJNfgne78Z
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) February 5, 2026
What happened in 2004?
A similar case had come to light in the year 2004 also. At that time, BJP had stopped the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from replying to the motion of thanks on the President’s address. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has shared a video on social media, in which Manmohan Singh, in his speech given on March 10, 2005, mentions the incident of June 10, 2004, when he did not get a chance to reply.
