New Delhi: Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, February 5, raised slogans as Prime Minister Narendra Modi replied to a discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, before staging a walkout.

As soon as the Prime Minister stood up for the reply in the Rajya Sabha, Opposition MPs urged the Chair to allow Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge to speak.

Chairman CP Radhakrishnan, however, did not allow him, and the Prime Minister started his reply, leading to protests and sloganeering from the Opposition benches.

Opposition MPs were on their feet, raising slogans against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi not being allowed to complete his speech in the Lok Sabha during the discussion on the President’s address, which led to none of the opposition MPs participating in the debate in the Lower House.

The Motion of Thanks to the President’s address was passed in the Lok Sabha without a customary reply by the Prime Minister.

As soon as Modi started speaking in the Rajya Sabha, Opposition MPs raised slogans, including “tanashahi nahi chalegi”, “Let LoP Speak” and “we will not tolerate insults”.

The prime minister continued his speech amid the sloganeering and also took a jibe at Kharge, saying, “Considering his age, he can sit and raise slogans”.

Opposition MPs soon after staged a walkout from the House, and came out of the Makar Dwar of Parliament building raising slogans.

Talking to the media outside Parliament, Kharge said, “They are not allowing us to speak… Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are two pillars of democracy, you cannot destroy one, and speak in the other…” he said. 

CPI(M) MP John Brittas said Opposition MPs wanted Kharge to be allowed to speak for two minutes. 

“Our only intention was to let honourable LoP speak for two minutes to register our protest for not giving LoP in the Lok Sabha a chance to complete his speech. In any Parliamentary democracy, the institution of Leader of Opposition is paramount, as that of the Prime Minister… LoP got up to express his views, but he was not allowed,” Brittas said.

“For the past few days, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, was not allowed to speak at all, and today, when the Prime Minister came to reply, the Leader of Opposition (Kharge) asked for two minutes to speak,” said DMK’s Tiruchi Siva.

“Kharge ji wanted to raise very valid points, but nobody yielded. Parliament is not taken in confidence at all, LoP is not being respected, so instead of listening to them, we all staged a walkout,” he said. 

Opposition parties had also staged a walkout in the pre-lunch sitting on Thursday on the same issue. Radhakrishnan had said what happened in the Lok Sabha should not be discussed in the Upper House.

In an unprecedented development, the Lok Sabha on Thursday passed the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address without the customary speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, amid vociferous protests by the Opposition.