Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a Congress member, talks during the debate on the Motion of No-Confidence in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, August 10, 2023, in New Delhi.
On August 10, as the no-confidence motion debate was underway, Prime Minister Narendra Modi entered the Lok Sabha. National Democratic Alliance MPs began chanting “Modi, Modi,” but the opposition countered with “I.N.D.I.A., I.N.D.I.A.”
The entire commotion started when PM Modi was criticised by Leader of the Opposition Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury for his inaction regarding the violence in Manipur.
Adhir was comparing Prime Minister Modi to the “blind king” and Nirav Modi at that time, although only PM Modi had already entered the Lok Sabha because he was scheduled to address the Parliament at 4 p.m.
In his speech, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, “Jab Dhritrashtra andhe the, tab Droupadi ka vastra haran hua tha, aaj bhi raja andhe baithe hai… Manipur aur Hastinapur mein koi farq nahi hai.“
The power of the no-confidence motion, he continued, “has brought the Prime Minister to the Parliament today. We were all unconcerned with this motion of no confidence. We merely asked that PM Modi visit the Parliament and address the Manipur issue. We just demanded that our PM appear in Parliament, not that any other BJP members do so.
Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi objected to this and asked that the statement be removed. “β¦ The prime minister is a powerful figure. He needs to apologise and this should be erased.
Chowdhury stated, among other things, that the Manipur issue cannot be limited to a single state because it has already taken on a worldwide scope. That was our justification for why the prime minister must intervene.
