THE Lok Sabha passed a resolution on Tuesday condemning Opposition’s disruptions during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address, with Union Minister Rajnath Singh saying these actions “shredded” parliamentary norms. After the Prime Minister’s speech, Defence Minister Singh moved the resolution. “The manner in which the Opposition shredded parliamentary norms when the PM was speaking on the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, I propose that the House condemns this action,” Singh said. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also chided Opposition leaders for their actions, saying their behaviour was not in line with parliamentary norms. “I gave sufficient time to all members. I gave more than 90 minutes to Leader of Opposition but this behaviour is not in line with parliamentary norms,” he said. The resolution was seconded by Home Minister Amit Shah and was passed by a voice vote. As soon as the Prime Minister rose to speak, Opposition members urged the Speaker to allow an MP from Manipur to speak.

OPPOSITION members on Tuesday said the “arrogance” and “vindictiveness” of BJP leaders during elections downgraded the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who now has to depend on alliance partners to provide a stable Government. Participating in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s address, Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee said the recent Lok Sabha elections had ushered in a change in the country which now has “an unstable Government and a strong Opposition”. Banerjee said the Prime Minister now has to use two crutches -- Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP and Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) -- to run the government. Congress leader K C Venugopal said the BJP leaders were not believers in Hinduism, but only used religion to polarise the electorate and win elections. He said the BJP projected the prime minister as bigger than God, which was the biggest anti-Hindu statement.

OPPOSITION members on Tuesday cornered the Government in the Rajya Sabha over the recent examination paper leaks, saying it is hurting the future of the youths and the morale of students who have toiled hard. Taking a dig, Raghav Chadha of AAP said that there are two IPLs played in the country - one is the Indian Premier League (IPL) for cricket and the second is Indian Paper Leak (IPL) - and the exam organising agency NTA stands for ‘No Trust Anymore’ Speaking on the issue during the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address, some members demanded a fair probe under the supervision of the Supreme Court and questioned the Government’s “silence”.