KC Venugopal submits breach of privilege notice against PM Modi over address to nation

New Delhi: Senior Congress MP KC Venugopal on Tuesday submitted a notice seeking initiation of breach of privilege proceedings against Narendra Modi for his ‘address to the nation’, claiming that the Prime Minister “annoyed” at his government’s failure to pass a Bill on delimitation cast aspersions on Opposition MPs and questioned their voting.

The submission of notice comes close on the heels of Congress, CPI(M) and CPI leaders as well as civil society approaching the Election Commission seeking action against Modi, accusing him of violating the Model Code of Conduct in place due to Assembly elections through the address, which were telecast by the public broadcasters.

In his letter to Speaker Om Birla, the Congress leader said the Prime Minister’s criticism of the Opposition for his government’s failure to muster two-third majority to pass the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 was “unprecedented”, “unethical” and a “blatant misuse of power”.

“It is appalling that the Prime Minister who wanted this Constitution Amendment Bill to pass was so annoyed that he chose to address the nation casting aspersions on the MPs who were honestly performing their duties, in this case protecting the Constitution,” he said.

Modi had singled out Congress, DMK, Samajwadi Party and Trinamool Congress and the defeat of the Bill was akin to “foeticide” of the women’s quota. “Such statements by the highest executive functionary of the country constitute a serious breach of privilege and contempt of the House,” Venugopal said.

He said questioning an elected representative performing his duty is “not merely a personal assault but a direct affront to the authority of the Parliament and to the democratic rights of the people”.

In his 29-minute televised address, he said Modi criticised the Opposition for blocking the Bill and made “direct reflections on the voting pattern” of MPs, while “attributing motives” to them. Venugopal said a Prime Minister’s address to the nation is “few and far between”, as such addresses are delivered on critical matters.

He said the Opposition had made it clear during the debate that they were in favour of women’s quota and demanded its early implementation while opposing the government’s move to “surreptitiously” bring in amendments for taking away the Constitutional safeguards of the delimitation process and leaving it to the “whims and fancies and malafide intents of the ruling party”.

He said it is a time-honoured Parliamentary convention and a fundamental privilege of an MP that no person shall reflect upon the conduct or voting of any MP or attribute motives to such conduct.

“Any such reflection or imputation directly undermines the dignity and authority of the House and interferes with the free and independent discharge of Parliamentary duties by its members. Apart from the violation of the Model Code of Conduct, the Prime Minister’s speech on national television…amounts to a clear and serious breach of privilege of the House and of every member of the Opposition,” he said.