Speaker Birla names and reprimands Rahul Gandhi

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 the PM 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 were standing in the aisles voicing their support.
Breaching the well and protesting from the side of the treasury 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 remained silent and did not confront the protesting MPs even for once.
PM Modi, before the session started, asked the NDA members to be respectful of parliamentary norms and their behaviour should not disappoint the people and their electorate in particular.
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.