THE FIRST part of the Budget Session of Parliament, which ended on Friday, was not just stormy but also a witness to many apparent firsts, particularly in the Lok Sabha. The House will now reassemble on March 9.
The session, which began on January 28, saw several unexpected developments. For one, the Union Budget was presented on a Sunday. During the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address last Monday (February 2), Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s reference to China in the unpublished memoir of former Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane (Retd) triggered a political row, leading to repeated disruptions in the Lok Sabha.
Citing House rules, senior ministers including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and Kiren Rijiju objected to Gandhi reading from the unreleased book. Invoking Rule 349(i) of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla directed Gandhi not to quote from a purported extract of the book.
However, Gandhi continued to refer to the memoir — Four Stars of Destiny — as well as a Caravan magazine article based on it, leading to sharp exchanges, with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju going to the extent of saying the House should deliberate on how to deal with members who defy the Chair’s ruling. Neither side relented even after the adjournment of the day’s proceedings.
Last Wednesday, the Lok Sabha saw an acrimonious battle between the Centre and the Opposition, leading to its adjournment till 5 pm after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey made sharp remarks targeting members of the Nehru-Gandhi family during the debate on the President’s Address.
Dubey, referring to a series of books, said, “There is a discussion on a book that has never been published. I want to tell the House about books which are full of Congress family’s ‘gaddari, makkari, bhrashtachar and aiyyashi’. And these are all published books,” Dubey said, referring to former PMs Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
The controversies cut short the debate on the Motion of Thanks, again a rarity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was expected to reply to the debate Wednesday evening, did not come to the House. The next day, Speaker Birla said he had urged the PM not to come as he had “credible information that several members of the Congress” would do something “apratyashit (unforeseen)” after reaching the PM’s seat”. The Opposition protested, saying there was no imminent threat to the PM.
PM Modi chose to address the Rajya Sabha on Thursday evening (February 5) to reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, and launched a sharp attack on the Opposition. He said that those who thought the PM’s post was reserved for one family were bitter that he had reached there and was still there. He said the opposition is raising slogans like “Modi teri kabr khudegi (Modi, your grave will be dug)”.
On Monday morning, the Opposition decided to move a no-confidence motion against the Speaker. In the afternoon, Rahul Gandhi sought to speak, purportedly to raise the issue of the Speaker’s insinuation on Congress women MPs, but was disallowed. BJP’s Sandhya Ray, who was in the chair, said the debate should be on the Budget alone. The House was adjourned for the day amid the stalemate.
On Tuesday, the Congress leaders submitted the no-confidence notice against the Speaker. Speaker Birla decided to stay away from the House proceedings till the pendency of the no-confidence motion. The Lok Sabha resumed that day with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor speaking on the Budget.
On Wednesday, LoP Gandhi spoke on the Budget, and targeted PM Modi on the India-US trade deal announcement, saying it was going to compromise the country’s energy security and farm interests. The Treasury Benches interrupted multiple times to say that he was violating the rules.
On Thursday, Nishikant Dubey gave a notice of a substantive motion against Gandhi for “misleading” the House. Dubey said, “The Leader of the Opposition behaves like an urban Naxal and has relations with the Soros Foundation… He should be expelled from the Lok Sabha and measures should be taken that he can never contest Lok Sabha polls again,” Dubey said.
The Rajya Sabha, in comparison, functioned more, but the acrimony of the Lower House reflected there too. When the PM rose to speak on the Motion of Thanks last week, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge wished to make his points first. When the Chairman disallowed this, the Opposition walked out.
Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at the PM soon after his speech, with an oblique reference to General Naravane’s book. “So much fear of questions? Modi ji got so scared of the truth that he took refuge in falsehood. Anyway, he did what he thought appropriate,” Gandhi said in a post on X.
On Thursday, the Rajya Sabha passed the Industrial Relations Code (Amendment) Bill, 2026, soon after it was passed in the Lok Sabha. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman replied to the debate on the Budget in both the Houses.
