PM Modi skips Lok Sabha as Speaker cites threat from Congress; Motion of Thanks passed amid Opposition protest

New Delhi: Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address sans the reply of the Prime Minister to the debate, with Speaker Om Birla saying that he had asked Narendra Modi not to come to the House as he had “concrete information” that Congress MPs would indulge in “unforeseen” protest that could lead to “unfortunate incidents”.

Senior Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra shot back, telling reporters that the Prime Minister was “hiding behind” the Speaker as Modi “did not have the guts” to come to the House. The entire Opposition had made it clear that they would “not allow” Modi's address if Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi cannot conclude his speech in Lok Sabha.

In June 2004, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could not reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha following protests by the Opposition. Singh was present in the House and urged for voting on the motion without his speech.

Since Monday, the Lok Sabha has witnessed a stalemate after Rahul was disallowed to continue his speech during which he wanted to refer to unflattering comments made by Gen MM Naravane in his unreleased memoirs against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on handling of conflict with China.

At 12 PM when the House reassembled after witnessing adjournment during Question Hour, Speaker Om Birla took up the Motion of Thanks even as Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were not present in the House.

With several Opposition MPs in the Well of the House, he first put the amendments submitted by the Opposition to vote and then the motion, both of which were negated by a voice vote, before adjourning the House till 2 PM. At 2 PM, similar scenes repeated with BJP MP Sandhya Ray, who was on the Chair, adjourned it till 3 PM.

Birla returned to the House at 3 PM and referred to the absence of Modi and why he did not reply to the debate saying, "when the Prime Minister was to respond to the Motion on the President Address, I had concrete information that Congress MPs could indulge in unforeseen acts. Had any incident taken place, it would have been unfortunate."

"It is not appropriate if the Leader of the House does not speak in Lok Sabha. To avert any incident, I requested the Prime Minister not to come to the House. I am thankful to him that he accepted my request," Birla said. At least four Congress women MPs had stationed themselves in front of the seat assigned to Modi, who was not present at that time, after the proceedings began at 5 PM.

Referring to Congress MPs entering his office to complain against BJP MP Nishikant Dubey's references against Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi citing books, he said he did not find the behaviour of some Congress MPs acceptable.

"I would say the behaviour of some opposition MP in Speaker's office on Wednesday was a 'black spot'," he said in apparent reference to some MPs banging on the table and angrily speaking to him, demanding action against Dubey and warning that if Rahul is not allowed to speak, the Prime Minister will face a difficult time in the House.

No Opposition leader could make a full speech on the debate. Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav and Naresh Uttam Patel, Trinamool Congress' Shatabdi Roy and DMK's Kathir Anand were called to speak after disallowing Rahul, who was raising the Naravane issue, they declined to speak saying the Leader of the Opposition should be allowed.

From the Treasury benches, five members spoke -- Union Minister Sarbanand Sonowal moved the motion while BJP's Tejasvi Surya seconded it as also TDP's GM Harish Balayogi. BJP's Nishikant Dubey also had a small intervention, which riled the Opposition, as also PP Chaudhary.