Modi govt defeats no-confidence motion in Lok Sabha amid a hug and drama

The Narendra Modi government comfortably defeated the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Friday. But if the debate was a trailer of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a united Opposition, it ended in a stalemate.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi won the battle of optics in the afternoon when he surprised the Prime Minister with a hug, which Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan termed “drama”. The evening belonged to Modi as he delivered a 100-minute speech, that had just about enough to keep his party’s core supporters enthused.

The no-confidence motion was defeated with 325 votes in favour of the government and 126 against, suggesting the BJP managed to secure the support of not just its allies but also some of the fence-sitters.

In his speech, Modi accused the Congress of conspiring to incite instability in the country by supporting a pointless no-confidence motion, and suggested that the result of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was a foregone conclusion as he advised his opponents to try their luck with another no-confidence motion in 2024.

The Congress chief delivered a stinging speech that riled BJP members, and concluded it by walking across the well of the House to startle the PM with a hug. Modi said he was surprised when the Congress president came over to his seat. The PM said Gandhi demanded he leave the prime ministerial chair, and wondered why the Congress leader was in such a hurry. He also ridiculed him for winking at a party colleague after the hug. The Opposition took heart that it could achieve its objectives with its MPs raising a host of issues, accusing the government of failures on several fronts and demanding answers.

After the Telugu Desam Party’s K Srinivas moved the no-confidence motion shortly after 11 am, his party’s Jayadev Galla initiated the discussion. The BJP was jolted early in the morning when ally Shiv Sena’s 18 MPs absented themselves from the House. Its former ally Raju Shetty of the Swabhimani Pakhsa also spoke against the government.

The Biju Janata Dal, dictated by the compulsions of Odisha politics, staged a walkout at the start of the debate to frustrate the Opposition’s hope that the Naveen Patnaik-led party might vote against the government. The AIADMK supported the government.

In his speech, the PM listed the achievements of his government, particularly its social welfare policies and efforts to strengthen the banking sector. A significant part of his speech was devoted to the Congress party’s past. He pointedly spoke of the Nehru-Gandhi family subverting any challengers, both within the Congress and outside, to its perceived claim over the prime ministerial chair.

The PM accused the Opposition of indulging in negative policies, and said the faces of all such people stood exposed. Modi said the Opposition was a rag-tag coalition that had come together with the sole agenda of “Modi Hatao” (remove Modi). “This is not a floor test of the government. This is a forced test of the Congress and its so-called allies,” the PM said amid repeated sloganeering by TDP members.

Modi also brought up the issue of nationalism and said the Congress was a collection of individuals who lacked faith not only in themselves but also the Army, the Election Commission, electronic voting machines, and the Reserve Bank of India.

Earlier in the day, Gandhi succeeded in getting under the skin of BJP MPs by alleging that the business of their party chief’s son had benefitted during the Modi government’s tenure. He also attacked Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the PM on the Rafale fighter jet deal. This forced the House to be adjourned briefly.

Gandhi even turned self-deprecatory when he said he didn’t hate the BJP for calling him ‘Pappu’. He described Modi's promises of doubling farm incomes, providing 20 million jobs a year as "jumlas", or slogans. He said the PM worked to benefit 10-15 of his industrialist friends and the Rafale fighter jet contract had been given to an industrialist who has never in his life manufactured an airplane, and the price of each aircraft was thrice of what the UPA had negotiated.

To Gandhi’s allegation of irregularities in the Rafale deal, Modi said the Congress leader was making “childish” accusations. BJP MP Prahlad Joshi moved a privilege motion against Gandhi for making wild and baseless allegations.

A spokesperson in the French Foreign Ministry said France had signed a security pact with India in 2008, which legally binds the two countries to protect the classified information which could impact security and operational capabilities of the defence equipment. However, the official did not clarify whether the provisions of the pact restrict the Indian government to disclose price details of the Rafale deal.

At one point in his speech, the PM also mimicked UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. He said the Congress had betrayed several leaders who lacked a pedigree and were sons of the soil – farmer leader Charan Singh, Chandra Shekhar, H D Deve Gowda, I K Gujral, even Pranab Mukherjee and Shrad Pawar. Modi said Congress was a party of the elite, and he cannot but not look them in the eye, as Gandhi had claimed, because he came from a humble background.

The PM said he had opposed the GST during UPA years because the Congress ministers were not willing to listen to the voice of the states, while his government has accommodated their interests.

Others who took part in the debate were Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Congress party’s Mallikarjun Kharge, BJP’s Anurag Thakuar, Rakesh Singh and several others.

But none in the Congress party had anticipated that their party chief would, at the end of his speech, cross the well of the House to walk up to the PM and hug him.

Nonplussed for a fraction of a second as Gandhi hugged him, the PM was quick to recover his composure to graciously pat Gandhi on his back and whispered something in his ears.

Gandhi's embrace of Modi came at the end of an uncharacteristically combative speech that lasted over an hour. The Congress chief has been the member of the Lok Sabha for 14 years now, but it was for the first time that something he said riled BJP members enough for the Speaker to adjourn the House briefly.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who looked amused as Gandhi hugged the PM, later in the day and probably as an afterthought reprimanded the Congress chief for the "drama" and said everyone must maintain decorum in Parliament. BJP MP Prahlad Joshi also moved a privilege notice against Gandhi for making "wild baseless allegations" against the PM on the Rafale fighter jet deal.

Gandhi, succeeding in getting under the skin of BJP MPs by alleging that the business of their party chief's son has benefitted during the Modi government's tenure, attacked Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and the PM on the Rafale fighter jet deal, and even turned self-deprecatory when he said he didn't hate the BJP for calling him 'Pappu'.

He said farmers, women, tribals and dalits have suffered during the Modi government's tenure. He described Modi's promises of doubling farm incomes, providing 20 million jobs a year as "jumlas", or slogans. Gandhi said the PM worked to benefit 10-15 of his industrialist friends and the Rafale fighter jet contract had been given to an industrialist who had never in his life manufactured an airplane.

Telugu Desam Party's Jayadev Galla initiated the debate and criticised the Modi government for ignoring the interests of Andhra Pradesh. Trinamool Congress's Saugata Roy asked some tough questions of the government on "demonetisation disaster" and "divisive politics".

The Congress chief said the PM and the BJP chief were unlike any other political leader, including those sitting in the Lok Sabha. He said most politicians were okay with losing power, but for reasons known to all, the PM and the BJP chief could not afford to lose power and that was why their politics stemmed from fear, which generated anger. Gandhi said the Congress party, the rest of the Opposition and even some in the BJP would ensure the defeat of Modi and Shah.

AIADMK leader P Venugopal accused the central government of giving step-motherly treatment to Tamil Nadu and sought more allocation of funds to the state. Telangana Rashtra Samithi leader B Vinod Kumar claimed that the Modi government has not been able to fulfil the expectations of the people.

Defence Minister Sitharaman termed as "absolutely wrong" Congress chief's claim that there was no confidentiality clause in the Rafale aircraft deal with France and said the initial agreement was signed when the UPA was in power in 2008. There were also an altercation between members of the BJP and the TDP.