NEW DELHI: Congress slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “hiding behind Speaker” after Om Birla said that he had requested the PM to not to come to the House when he was scheduled to reply to the President’s address, citing security reasons by the women MPs. The Lok Sabha eventually passed the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address without the customary reply by the prime minister.“The PM is hiding behind the Speaker. Yesterday, he did not have the guts to come to the House because three women were standing before the bench. What nonsense is this? There is no discussion because the govt doesn’t want discussion to happen,” Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi said on Thursday, shortly after the Lok Sabha session was adjourned again within seconds.Moreover, Congress leader Pawan Khera dismissed the “security concerns” claims as raised by the Speaker, saying that the women MPs were there to protest.PM Modi was scheduled to speak in Lok Sabha on Wednesday at 5pm. However, when the proceedings began, the women opposition leaders stood around the PM’s chair displaying posters as a mark of protest. The prime minister was not present in the House and the speech was eventually cancelled.Om Birla alleged that the MPs “could have created an inappropriate incident near the Prime Minister’s chair”, thus, he advised the PM not to visit the House.“Are the Modi government and their subservient journalists trying to say that women are inherently violent? Is protest by a woman considered terrorism? Were the Modi government and their compliant journalists uncomfortable with a Dalit woman MP standing up? Do they consider them untouchable?” Khera said reacting to the claims.“The Modi government and its servile journalists should apologize to the women of the country, especially Dalit women,” he added.The opposition has been protesting against the Centre over the proposed India–US trade deal, which it claims will hurt farmers and agriculture, the suspension of eight opposition MPs during the Budget Session, the alleged sidelining of Parliament in communicating key policy decisions, and the controversy surrounding former Army chief MM Naravane’s memoir, which Rahul Gandhi cited while accusing the government of compromising national interests, escalating tensions inside and outside the House.
