New Delhi, Feb 13: The stormy opening phase of the Budget Session concluded Friday after heated clashes over the India-US interim trade deal and ex-Army Chief M M Naravane’s unpublished memoir, with both Houses now adjourned until March 9 for standing committee reviews of Union Budget allocations.
The session kicked off January 28 with President Droupadi Murmu’s joint address, but devolved into pandemonium: Rajya Sabha adjourned for an hour over Opposition slogans demanding Union Minister Hardeep Puri’s resignation and protests against the US trade pact.
Lok Sabha saw worse—repeated adjournments from February 2 after Speaker Om Birla barred LoP Rahul Gandhi from citing Naravane’s excerpts on the 2020 India-China clash. Noisy disruptions led to suspensions of seven Congress and one CPI-M MPs for unruly acts like scaling tables and hurling paper at the Chair.
Fearing escalation, Birla urged PM Narendra Modi to skip his Lok Sabha Motion of Thanks reply; Modi spoke instead in Rajya Sabha. Opposition moved to oust Birla as Speaker—still pending for March 9—prompting him to step back from chairing till resolved. Gandhi’s Budget debate push caused further uproar, with Birla lamenting 19+ hours wasted.
Gandhi slammed the government for compromising India’s interests in the US deal; Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman fired back, accusing past Congress regimes of WTO sellouts. Amid turmoil, Parliament passed an Industrial Relations Code amendment for legal clarity on 2020 laws—the session’s sole bill. The full Budget Session wraps April 2.
