Amid the Opposition’s slogan shouting, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday came up with a counter protest — the Gandhian formula. Singh was speaking in the Lok Sabha on the Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023, when the Opposition MPs trooped into the well of the House, raising slogans and displaying placards on the Manipur issue. The senior leader did not bother to outshout the MPs, nor did he try to persuade them to listen to him. Singh sought the Chair’s permission and went to the backbenches to speak on the Bill. He took the microphone at the second row from the back, near a pillar, and spoke, ensuring the Bill was passed in the Lower House.
During his interaction with the NDA MPs from Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is learnt to have reiterated his advice to his party leaders on restraining their public remarks. According to sources, Modi asked them to give up their “craze for addressing the nation” and cited the example of late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who, he said, was aware of every development during her term as a Union minister but chose to make public comments only on issues related to her ministry, external affairs. Later, when the PM was asked to try the various ‘chaats’ from the spread prepared for dinner, he fondly remembered late Arun Jaitley and said: “I am not a foodie.”
The meeting of the Opposition parties in Parliament on Friday saw some of the members once again broaching the topic of giving a notice for moving a no-confidence resolution against Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. Later, in private, some of the leaders wondered about the casual way with which such issues were being discussed in the meetings. While most of the Opposition leaders in Rajya Sabha argue their voice is not heard in the House, some later said how can a notice be given for moving a resolution seeking the removal of the Vice President given that the rules say it should serve a notice period of 14 days. The Monsoon session of Parliament, which will come to a close next Friday, has only five business days left.