The whole place detonate, banners flying, MPs shouting across the aisle, and in the end, Prime Minister Narendra Modi never got to deliver his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address. The House got deferred for the day right before he was assume to speak at 5 p.m.
It started building up earlier. The opposition, especially Congress, has been furious since Rahul Gandhi tried to bring up stuff from an unpublished memoir by former Army Chief General M.M. Naravane. He wanted to quote it to question the government’s handling of the 2020 China border standoff and national security. But the Speaker shut that down quick—no quoting unpublished books. That led to suspensions of eight opposition MPs earlier in the week, and the bad blood just kept boiling.
Then came the afternoon drama. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey got up during the debate and started waving around a stack of published books—like Edwina and Nehru, M.O. Mathai’s memoirs, Mitrokhin Archives, and others. He read out passages making heavy allegations against Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi—stuff about “aiyyashi” (debauchery), corruption, trickery, you name it. He basically said, “If Rahul can talk about an unpublished book, why can’t I quote from these real, published ones that expose the Nehru-Gandhi family?”
Congress MPs lost it. They called it straight-up slander, disruptive, and unfair—double standards all the way. Women MPs from the opposition, including some prominent Congress ones, stormed the Well of the House, crossed right over to the treasury benches, held up banners, and basically blocked the area near the PM’s seat. Slogans, chaos, the works. The presiding officer (BJP MP Sandhya Rai was in the chair since the Speaker wasn’t there) tried to tranquil things, but it was too loud, too heated. Boom—adjournment for the day.
Congress leaders were livid afterward. They kept saying the PM shouldn’t reply until Rahul Gandhi finishes his full speech as Leader of the Opposition. Jairam Ramesh and others pointed out that the debate hasn’t even properly moved forward—how can Modi respond if the LoP hasn’t been heard out completely? Rahul himself came out swinging, saying the government was “scared” of real questions on security and borders, and that Modi basically “ran away” from facing the House.
On the flip side, the BJP defended Dubey hard, saying published books are fair game under the rules, unlike Rahul’s unpublished one. But the opposition saw it as personal attacks on their icons, Nehru and Indira, and more proof of bias in how the Chair handles things.
So the day ended with zero PM speech, the Motion of Thanks hanging in limbo, and everyone digging in deeper. Modi’s reply got pushed—looks like it’ll happen in the Rajya Sabha today instead. The Budget Session’s already off to a rocky start, and this just amps up the divide. History books, unpublished memoirs, old allegations—Parliament turned into a full-on battlefield over them. Classic Indian politics: loud, dramatic, and nothing gets done when the tempers flare.
Sources:
The Hindu
The Wire
Times of India
Indian Express
Deccan Chronicle
Hindustan Times
