in-a-first-ls-clears-motion-of-thanks-without-pm-s-speech

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address without the customary speech by the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not present in the House when Lok Sabha Speaker, Om Birla, put the amendments moved by the Opposition to the Motion of Thanks to vote, which were subsequently rejected.

The Speaker then read out the Motion of Thanks to the President for her address to both Houses of Parliament on January 28, which was passed by a voice vote, amid sloganeering by the opposition members. The unprecedented development was followed by the Speaker adjourning the proceedings till 2 pm.

Uproar and cacophony ruled the House as Congress members stormed the Well, carrying posters with PM Modi’s picture and ‘Narendra-Surrender’ slogan written at the top. They were joined by Samajwadi Party members, who carried three banners and pamphlets raising the issue of demolitions at the Manikarnika ghat on the river Ganga in Varanasi. The SP banners carried pictures of Rani Ahilyabai Holkar, who had developed the ghats nearly 300 years ago.

 

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Trinamool Congress members were also in the Well joining the protest, while other members of the INDIA bloc, including the DMK and the Left, stood at their seats and in the aisle in solidarity.

Constitutional expert and former Lok Sabha secretary general, P D T Achary, termed the passage of the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address without the customary reply by the prime minister as an “unprecedented development”.

He referred to a similar situation in 2004, when the then prime minister Manmohan Singh was present in the House, but did not make a speech as per an understanding reached with the then opposition BJP.

“Speaker sir, I learn that there is an understanding among political parties on both sides that the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address be put to vote straightaway and passed unanimously. Therefore, sir, I request you to put the motion to vote,” Manmohan Singh had said on June 10, 2004.