New Delhi: The month-long Monsoon session of Parliament ended Thursday after it witnessed almost daily disruptions and noisy protests by the Opposition in both Houses over the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar.
As the government termed the session as “fruitful and successful” since all its planned legislative business were transacted before the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed disappointment at the absence of normal proceedings and said bright and young MPs of the Congress do not get to participate in discussions due to the “insecurity” of its leadership.
Sources said Modi made these remarks at the customary informal meeting of leaders from different parties in Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s office after the House adjournment. Opposition leaders kept away from the get-together.
The sources said Modi did not name Rahul Gandhi while targeting the Congress leadership but his remarks were apparently aimed at the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, who is leading his party’s agitation against the Election Commission’s drive to revise electoral rolls in Bihar.
As the frequent disruptions overshadowed legislative business, the Lok Sabha secretariat said the House lost over 84 hours to forced adjournments, the highest in the 18th Lok Sabha constituted in June last year after the general elections.
Despite repeated disruptions, adjournments and walkouts, the government managed to introduce 14 Bills and secure passage of 12 key legislations, including the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025, the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2025, and the National Sports Governance Bill, 2025. The new Income Tax Bill was also cleared by the Lok Sabha and returned by the Rajya Sabha.
In his concluding remarks, Speaker Birla lamented the “unparliamentary behaviour” of the members, calling the “planned disruptions” unfortunate and against the dignity of the House.
The session that started on July 21 had 21 sittings with 37 hours and 7 minutes of effective business, according to the Lok Sabha secretariat.
Birla said that all parties had decided at the beginning of the session that discussions would be held for 120 hours in this session.
“The Business Advisory Committee also agreed to this. But due to continuous deadlock and planned disruptions, we could barely work for 37 hours in this session,” he underlined.
In the Rajya Sabha, Deputy Chairman Harivansh lamented that the entire session was marred by repeated disruptions and members could not get an opportunity to raise meaningful issues despite the best efforts of the chair.
“This not only results in the loss of precious Parliamentary time but deprives us of the opportunity to deliberate on several matters of public importance.”
He said the House functioned for only 41 hours and 15 minutes.
“The productivity of this Session stood at a disappointing 38.88 per cent, something that calls for serious introspection.”
Hardly a day passed when the Question Hour was not disrupted by the opposition members, who raised slogans, thumped tables and displayed placards.
The three bills providing a legal framework for the removal of prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers on arrest for 30 consecutive days on serious charges were introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah, triggering acrimonious scenes both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Saba.
In the Lower House , tempers flared, copies of the Bills were torn and flung, and members of the ruling and opposition alliances came face-to-face when Shah moved to introduce the bills. The bills were referred to a joint committee of Parliament.
On Thursday, the Rajya Sabha adopted a motion to nominate 10 members to the Joint Committee of both Houses which will scrutinise the three bills.
The Upper House adopted a motion to concur with the recommendation of the Lok Sabha in joining the 31-member Joint Committee to look into these bills. A total of 21 members will be from the Lok Sabha.
The motion to send members to the Joint Committee was adopted with voice vote, amid stiff opposition and protests by the Opposition, which also tore copies of the bills and strongly protested in the Well of the House.
At the meeting convened by Speaker Birla, Modi singled out the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, which bans all real-money games and was passed by Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha without discussion due to din, for praise and its wide positive implications due to the adverse impact on society by these online games.
He said the Monsoon session covered several important bills and regretted that they could not be discussed in Parliament, sources said.
Asked about the decision of opposition parties to keep away from the meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju took a swipe at them saying their leaders might have been too “embarrassed” with their conduct during the session to attend it.
Rijiju added that Congress functionaries who attend the meeting with the government over the business in Parliament often come to some understanding but cannot implement it. They might be facing pressure, he said, in an apparent swipe at Rahul Gandhi.
Senior BJP leaders and members of a few other parties, including those from the ruling alliance, attended the meeting.
Rijiju said it is “rare” for opposition leaders to boycott the meeting hosted by the Speaker over tea after the session concludes.
He described the Monsoon Session as “fruitful and successful” for the country and the government but “unsuccessful and damaging” for the opposition.
Rijiju said the government got all its business transacted and the session had a “success rate of 100 per cent”, insisting that the treasury benches were forced to pass their bills in din as the opposition refused to pay heed to their request to allow discussion.
“The government has to discharge its duties to people in the national interest,” he said. The opposition cannot prevent the government from working with its protests, he added.
In a swipe at the opposition parties, especially the Congress, he said their floor leaders and whips at times came to an informal understanding with the government during the session, but could not implement it in the two Houses.
“They might be under pressure,” he said, suggesting that their leadership was determined to obstruct Parliament’s proceedings.
“How will the new MPs of the Congress learn? Their leader does not learn,” he said, referring to the need for the members to participate in debates and discussions to grow as a parliamentarian.
A united opposition protesting the SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar forced repeated adjournments in Parliament throughout the session demanding a discussion on the issue.
The government ruled it out on the grounds that the administrative work of a constitutional body like the Election Commission cannot be discussed in Parliament.
The only agenda item that was conducted smoothly was a two-day discussion on Operation Sindoor in both Houses.
PTI
