Lok Sabha session: Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the 262 newly elected Members of Parliament who took the oath of office on the first day of the 18th Lok Sabha session. The poll for the Speaker’s position is set for Wednesday, while the remaining 281 new MPs, which include Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, will take their oaths today.
Meanwhile, the opposition held a protest march within the Parliament complex, with INDIA bloc MPs raising slogans about “saving democracy” and displaying copies of the Constitution. The demonstration included Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi, as well as Samajwadi leaders Akhilesh Yadav and Dimple Yadav.
As the recently elected Members of Parliament took their oaths in English and some other Indian languages, such as Sanskrit, Hindi, Dogri, Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati, and Odia, the Lok Sabha demonstrated linguistic diversity on Monday.
Principal Aspects of Day One
On Monday, the opening day of the 18th Lok Sabha began with a heated exchange between Congressman Mallikarjun Kharge and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the 1975 Emergency and the “need to safeguard democracy.”
Before the session, in his customary speech, Modi emphasized the public’s wish for a responsible opposition and promised his government would work to build agreement and engage everybody.
K Suresh, an eight-time Member of Parliament and a leading candidate for the Protem Speaker position, along with DMK MP T R Baalu and TMC’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay, initially did not take their oaths when invited to join the panel of chairpersons assisting the pro-tem Speaker. Suresh subsequently took his oath.
NK Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party, announced that the INDIA bloc would put forward candidates for the Lok Sabha Speaker and Deputy Speaker elections, amid disputes regarding Bhartruhari Mahtab’s appointment as pro-tem Speaker.
Leaders of the BJP-led NDA criticized opposition MPs for their Save Constitution march to Parliament, arguing that now that the elections are over, attention should shift from political disputes to national development.
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During the brief parliamentary session, the Opposition intends to challenge the government on various issues, including unemployment, inflation, and economic inequality.
Lok Sabha activities scheduled ahead
The elections for the new Lok Sabha Speaker will be held on June 26. On June 27, President Droupadi Murmu will speak to both houses in session together. Following her address, both houses will discuss and pass the motion of thanks, with PM Modi responding to the discussion in both houses next week.
What is the current meaning of ’emergency period’?
In his pre-Parliament speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the Congress for the ‘Emergency period,’ calling it a black spot in democracy during which the Constitution was discarded.
On June 25, 1975, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, a Congress leader, declared a state of Emergency in India. This led to the suspension of civil liberties, imprisonment of opposition leaders and dissidents, and the enforcement of press censorship. The anniversary of the 1975-77 Emergency falls on Tuesday.