MOTION OF THANKS: Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains unfazed by his reduced Lok Sabha numbers and continues to brandish unmoving obduracy on Manipur.

He spoke for a record-breaking 2 hours 15 minutes in the Lower House on Tuesday, ignoring chants of “Manipur, Manipur” for the entire duration as he launched personal attacks against leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi, dubbed the Congress a “parasite” party and spared not a syllable for the tragedy-ridden state.

Speaking in the House on Monday as the clock approached the midnight hour, first-time MP from Inner Manipur Angomcha Bimol Akoijam had promised to “keep quiet the moment the Prime Minister opens his mouth and says, Manipur is part of India and we care for the people of that state”.

On Tuesday, Akoijam, his colleague from the state Alfred Kannagam S. Arthur and other Opposition members raised slogans in the Well of the Lok Sabha seeking “justice for Manipur” but Modi refused to oblige.

Modi stood his ground and proceeded to launch a tirade against the Congress. He termed the party “parjivi (parasite)”, dubbed Rahul “balak-buddhi (infantile intelligence)” and twisted the LoP’s remarks to claim that he had denigrated the Hindu community by terming it “violent”.

“Today there is a conspiracy to make false allegations against Hindus. A serious conspiracy is going on. It was said that Hindus are violent,” Modi said in the Lok Sabha while replying to the discussion on the motion of thanks to the President’s address.

“These are your values, this is your character, this is your thinking, and this is your hatred? These atrocities against the Hindus of this country... this country is not going to forget this for centuries,” he added amid loud rebuttals of “jhoot, jhoot (lies, lies)” from the Opposition members protesting in the Well.

In his debut speech as the LoP on Monday, Rahul had ripped into the BJP’s brand of Hinduism, which he said was based on “fear” and “hate”.

Modi said Rahul had denigrated Hindu gods by showing their pictures in the House. “The pictures of our gods and goddesses are for darshan and not pradarshan to further political agenda,” he said.

“Now, the Hindu community has to think whether it was a mere sanyog (coincidence) or preparation of a big prayog (experiment),” he said, adding that there was a serious conspiracy by the “INDI Alliance” to defame and demean Hindu religion.

The united Opposition rushed to the Well with their plea that Alfred be allowed to speak. Speaker Om Birla refused saying the other MP from Manipur had already spoken and the Congress had exhausted the time allotted to the party. Birla had already called the Prime Minister for his reply and Modi had started to speak.

“We requested one minute for the Manipur MP to speak, but it was denied, so we chanted slogans demanding the same. Justice for Manipur. One Minute for Manipur,” Congress MP Manickam Tagore posted on X after the House was adjourned sine die post the Prime Minister’s reply.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh, seconded by home minister Amit Shah, moved a motion to condemn Rahul, saying his conduct had “lowered the dignity of the House” and it was passed by a voice vote.

Modi, however, broke his silence on the NEET-UG irregularities by saying that the “government is extremely concerned about the NEET issue and is working on a war footing to fulfill its responsibilities”.

“I will tell every student of the country, every youth of the country that the government is very serious about preventing such incidents,” Modi said.

Continuing with his tirade, Modi said the LoP had displayed “balak-buddhi” through his conduct in the House on Monday, but it should not be taken lightly. He urged the Speaker to take “serious” note of it and act “firmly” to protect the dignity of the House.

“We will not be able to protect parliamentary democracy without taking seriously what happened yesterday. Now these actions should not be ignored by calling them childish intellect. The intentions behind this are not good but are seriously dangerous,” Modi said.

Modi dubbed the Congress “parjivi” and said its increased numbers in the Lok Sabha came at the cost of its allies.

“Now the Congress will be known as a parasitic Congress from 2024. The Congress that exists in 2024 is a parasitic Congress and a parasite is one that eats the body in which it lives. The Congress also feeds on the votes of the party with which it forms an alliance and prospers at the expense of its ally,” Modi said.

He said that wherever the Congress was in a direct fight with the BJP, it lost badly but picked up seats in states where it had strong regional allies. “This is the third-biggest defeat for the Congress…. They have got 99 marks not out of 100 but out of 543,” he said. “The people’s mandate for the Congress is to sit where it is, in Opposition; the Congress could not cross the 100 mark for three times in a row.”

He accused the Congress of conspiring to spread “anarchy” in the country by colluding with “anti-national” forces and blamed the party-run state governments of trying to hurl the country into an “economic anarchy”, obliquely referring to populist promises.

Sweeping aside the fact that the BJP could not cross the majority mark on its own, Modi portrayed his third term in office as “historic”.

“People have chosen us in this biggest election exercise. I can understand the pain of some people that despite running falsehoods they were comprehensively defeated,” he said.

After his marathon speech, Modi sought to pat his own back, terming it a “victory of truth” because he managed to speak despite loud protests.

“Modi cannot be scared by such obstacles (the protests). No amount of uproar can suppress the truth,” Modi said as the BJP members raised chants of “Modi, Modi”. “Bahut anand aaya. Aaj maine satya ki taqat kya hoti hai dekh liya (I enjoyed it a lot. Today I realised the strength of truth),” Modi said as his ministers rushed to congratulate him.