IN RARE MOVE, SPEAKER NAMES, REPRIMANDS LOP RAHUL GANDHI

NEW DELHI: It was a rare occasion when Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla named and reprimanded the newly appointed leader of opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of inciting opposition members to troop to the well of the House to protest while PM Narendra Modi was delivering his reply to the vote of thanks to the President's address to the joint sitting of Parliament.

"It is unbecoming of you as leader of the opposition... I have seen you asking members to troop to the well. Such behaviour is unwarranted on your part," Birla said.

Opposition MPs, mostly from Congress, started protesting from both sides of the well and continued heckling the PM during his entire over two-hour speech. As soon as Modi rose to speak, opposition members, amid relentless sloganeering, urged the Speaker to allow an MP from Manipur to speak. As Birla said one of them had already been given an opportunity to speak, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi along with two Manipur MPs rushed to the well. Later, several Congress MPs entered the well, while TMC members stood on the aisles voicing their support.

Modi, however, braved the continuous heckling by Congress MPs. Breaching the well and protesting from the sides of the treasury bench was seen as a serious breach of decorum and parliamentary norms as the MPs were sloganeering just in front of the PM. It was also a rare occasion as the entire treasury bench remained silent and did not confront the protesting MPs even for once.

Although the PM completed his reply with full throttle, he urged the Speaker that he should not take the opposition's behaviour lightly and also look at how the House will run in the next five years.

Later, Lok Sabha passed a resolution condemning opposition's disruptions during Modi's address, with Union minister Rajnath Singh saying these actions "shredded" parliamentary norms and decorum. "I propose that the House condemns this action," Singh said. Birla said, "I gave sufficient time to all members. I gave more than 90 minutes to the leader of the opposition but this behaviour is not in line with parliamentary norms."

The resolution was seconded by home minister Amit Shah and was passed by a voice vote.