The no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, August 10 in the penultimate day of the Monsoon Session.
This was the first time Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an appearance and spoke in the ongoing Monsoon Session. His speech was marred by Opposition protests who later staged a walkout.
PM Modi took a jibe at the INDIA bloc saying the no-confidence motion “is lucky for the BJP-led Centre” as the floor test is not for the NDA (National Democratic Alliance), but for the Opposition which has moved the motion in the Parliament.
“I can see that you have decided that in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA and the BJP will break all previous records with a more brute majority,” he added.
Oppn stages walkout
Opposition MPs staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha as PM Modi spoke, complaining there was no reference to Manipur in the first 90 minutes of his speech.
Chanting ‘Manipur, Manipur’ during the prime minister’s reply, the Opposition urged him to speak on the ethnic violence in the northeastern state.
The parliamentarians of the parties of the opposition bloc INDIA then staged a walkout while the prime minister was speaking.
Members of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also walked out of the House subsequently.
After the opposition walkout, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, “We asked the PM to address the nation on Manipur. After one hour and 45 minutes (of his speech), he had not mentioned the word Manipur. He was making a purely political speech, there were all the old attacks on Congress party and the opposition, insults, but there were no answers to questions raised by the no-confidence motion.”
“It was a purely political speech. What was new? What did he tell the nation that we did not know? It lacked the gravitas that we associate with PM, and lacked any substantive reference to the motion of no-confidence,” he said.
Gaurav Gogoi, who moved the no-confidence motion in the House, said, “This no-confidence motion had two objectives – first, people of Manipur should get justice and second, PM Modi should speak on Manipur issue.”
“After so long, the nation could see the PM speaking in the House. We forced him to break his silence…but the objective of getting justice for Manipur was not achieved. PM Modi is running away from his responsibility,” he said.
DMK MP TR Baalu said the opposition was expecting to hear from the prime minister about the situation in Manipur and other parts of the country where incidents of violence have been reported.
“The intention of the no-confidence motion was… to hear his response on Manipur and Haryana, and other areas where violence is taking place. We intervened many times but he did not respond,” he said.
