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Motion of Thanks to Prez speech passed in LS without PM’s reply Ist time since 2004
Sanjeev Kumar | February 5, 2026 7:21 PM CST

The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the motion of thanks to the President's address to the joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament on January 28 without Prime Minister Narendra Modi's customary reply for the first time since 2004, amid continuing Opposition protests and logjam.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla read out the motion before it was passed by a voice vote. He adjourned the proceedings until 2pm, as the protests continued. The motion was passed after the opposition's amendments to it were rejected. This was the second time that the Prime Minister could not reply to the debate on the president's speech. In 2004, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could not deliver his speech after the debate on the president's address as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers protested the inclusion of allegedly tainted ministers in his Cabinet. Modi was scheduled to reply to the debate on President Droupadi Murmu's speech in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. He dropped the plan as the Opposition continued the protests. Modi is set to reply to the debate in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The Congress and other Opposition parties continued to disrupt the House on Thursday, demanding that the leader of the opposition (LoP), Rahul Gandhi, be allowed to speak about former army chief General (retd) Manoj Naravane's unpublished memoir. Birla on Monday did not allow Gandhi to refer to an article about the book, referring to the rules. Senior ministers also opposed it. On Tuesday, eight opposition lawmakers were suspended for the rest of the session, aggravating the logjam.
Officials said the discussion on the president's speech could not be completed due to disruptions for the first time. In Lok Sabha, only minister Sarbanand Sonwal, fellow BJP lawmaker Tejaswi Surya, and Telugu Desam Party's Harish Balayogi could complete their speeches. BJP's Nishikant Dubey, who referred to books against Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, and other Congress leaders, could not finish his speech as the House was adjourned on Wednesday. The impasse started on Monday when Rahul Gandhi wanted to refer to a magazine article with excerpts from Naravane's unpublished memoir amid opposition from the BJP. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh announced that there would be no prime minister's speech if the LoP is not allowed to speak. This came after the Congress leadership met at the party chief Mallikarjun Kharge's residence on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Opposition lawmakers rushed to the Well of the House carrying banners and shouting slogans even as Birla urged them against making noise. "You have been in power for many years. You are free to oppose, but it must be done through words and debates and not noise." Outside the House, Gandhi carried a copy of Naravane's book and said he would present it to Modi if the Prime Minister came to Parliament. In a post on X, he said the book is not by any opposition leader or any foreign author. "This book is by the country's former Army Chief [General Naravane] - and the surprising thing is that, according to the Cabinet Ministers, this book does not even exist. This book clearly states that when the Chinese army had entered our border, in such a critical moment, the Army Chief was made to wait. And when the time came to take a decision, the Prime Minister simply said - 'Do whatever you think is appropriate'." Gandhi alleged that Naravane wrote he felt the political leadership had "left the army alone."
Union minister Giriraj Singh hit back at Gandhi and the Congress. "Throughout parliamentary history, both the ruling side and the Opposition have coexisted, and running the House has never been the responsibility of the treasury benches alone. For the first time, such chaos was created during the president's address, with behaviour resembling that of immature children… Do they think this is the rule of a single family, that Parliament is the Congress office or Sonia Gandhi's home?" An official cited the disruptions and said the schedules are now being redrawn as the Lok Sabha prepares to work in a tight schedule to complete the process of passing the budget. In 2021, the opposition prevented Modi from introducing the newly sworn-in ministers. "Over the years, the Opposition has shown little regard for Parliament functioning by disturbing the House. Today, when women lawmakers gathered around the Well, it was clear they did not want the proceedings..." said a BJP leader.


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