After a decade, the opposition is back in large numbers and with one voice in the Lok Sabha | Political Pulse News

The BJP, which left the new Parliament building in February in an optimistic mood and chanted:From ki about 400 pairs‘, was rather subdued, except for a round of ‘Modi Modi’ when Narendra Modi, elected Prime Minister for the third consecutive term, stood up to take the oath of office as a Member of Parliament.

On the other side of the well, Akhilesh Yadav, leader of the SP, whose vote count rose from five to 37, Awadhesh PrasadThe 79-year-old, who won the Faizabad (Ayodhya) constituency, sits in the front row with himself and Rahul Gandhi.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and other leaders of the INDIA bloc display copies of the Indian Constitution during their protest at the Parliament building on the first day of the first session of the 18th Lok Sabha. (PTI)

With the BJP no longer in the majority The Lower House reverberated with the sounds of a confident opposition. The Congress, DMK and TMC MPs staged a protest outside the House, holding red-bound copies of the Constitution and standing where the statue of Mahatma Gandhi once stood. They then marched to the House to take the oath of office. A few minutes later, Akhilesh Yadav led his party men, all wearing red stoles and holding copies of the Constitution, into the House chamber.

The mood inside was probably an indication of what was to come in Parliament for at least some sessions. Opposition members waved copies of the Constitution as Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah were called to take the oath of office. They were heard shouting slogans such as “Long live the Constitution” and “We will save the Constitution” as Modi stood at the lectern. After all, one of the opposition lines during the election campaign was that the BJP would change the Constitution if it returned to power with over 400 seats.

The opposition also joined hands to protest against the alleged irregularities in competitive exams like NEET-UG and UGC-NET. When Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took oath of office, they chanted “NEET, NEET” and “shame, shame”. The opposition parties have already announced that they will raise the issue in Parliament.

The belligerent mood in the opposition was visible from the beginning: When Bhartruhari Mahtabthe provisional Speaker – whose nomination itself was controversial as the opposition questioned why Congress MP K Suresh, the senior MP who was to be given the honour, was ignored – called on the three senior opposition MPs, none of them – Suresh, TR Baalu ​​​​(DMK) and Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC) – came forward as the The opposition had decided to remove her from the list the Chairperson to administer the oath of office. Suresh stood up to have the objection recorded, but the Chairperson did not allow him.

Many opposition MPs and almost all Congress MPs from Kerala held a copy of the Constitution in their hands when they were inaugurated.

The comments by TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee were the only lines that drew some laughter in Parliament on the first day. “You want to divide the House too?” he asked Mehtab, pointing to the two lecterns for the swearing-in – one on the government benches’ side and the other on the opposition’s side – as opposed to the single podium in the old Parliament building. Mahtab just smiled. He left the choice to the MPs and many from the opposition moved to the right side of the chair.

When Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh of the JD-U, who switched to the ruling NDA before the elections, Banerjee was heard singing:Good, good, good, good, good, good“ When Union Minister Giriraj Singh, known for his uproarious remarks, took the podium, Banerjee said: “If only I could vote for a better one. Thank you very much”

Despite the divide, the Lok Sabha witnessed a demonstration of language and traditional dress. Newly elected MPs took their oath in Hindi, English, Sanskrit, Telugu, Dogri, Bangla, Assamese, Odia, Gujarati and Malayalam. Before taking his oath in Malayalam, actor-politician Suresh Gopi, a member of the Union Council and the first BJP MP from Kerala, invoked the gods and said “Krishna, Guruvayurappa”.

Many of the MPs were seen in their traditional attire – the Assam MPs wore the white and red gamchas, TMC MP Kirti Azad came in the traditional Bengali dhoti. Outside the Parliament building, Union Minister Anupriya Patel’s red and black sari drew comments from DMK MPs M Kanimozhi and Thamizhachi Sumathy that she was “DMK conscious” – red and black are the DMK’s brand colours. “Look at her, she is orange,” Patel said, pointing to Sumathy’s bright orange sari as she hugged Kanimozhi.

The MPs started arriving at the Parliament House much before 11 am. While many of the newly elected MPs were busy taking photographs with their family members outside the building and introducing themselves to others, those who were returning were excited to be back. Kanimozhi was carrying a book – Moustache by S. Hareesh – which she had been gifted by an MP from Kerala. Despite being under fire, Pradhan tried to lighten the mood by engaging in conversation with several MPs. When he saw his fellow minister Jual Oram, Pradhan approached him and narrated an incident from the past – how he as ABVP leader and Oram had toured the Parliament House in 1997. According to Pradhan, on seeing the old Parliament House, Oram said, “Yehin ayen to acha hota“(it would have been nice if we could come here)