Govt is determined it won’t allow LoP to speak in both Houses, says Congress chief

The Opposition was forced to walk out of the Rajya Sabha because the government was not ready to listen, Congress president and Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said on Thursday (February 5, 2026). The remarks came after the united Opposition walked out during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reply to the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.

Mr. Kharge said the Opposition had been denied the opportunity to speak in both Houses of Parliament over the past four days. 

“We wanted to hear him. But for the last four days, we have been witnessing that our Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was not allowed to speak,” Mr. Kharge told reporters. He said the Opposition had sought to place “issues of national interest” before both Houses, including concerns about unemployment, inflation, and the welfare of farmers.

Alleging that the government had “sacrificed farmers’ interests” to “broker a deal with America”, Mr. Kharge said the Opposition wanted accountability on what he described as India’s “surrender” to U.S.’s demands under President Donald Trump. “We wanted to ask all these questions… A united Opposition had decided that if the LoP is allowed to speak then we would participate. But they didn’t allow us,” he said.

Mr. Kharge added that the Opposition had made repeated attempts, “under all rules and regulations”, to present its position in both Houses. “We weren’t disrupting the House. They are determined that they won’t allow the LoP to speak in Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha. Had they heard me for two minutes we could have resolved it,” he said. He also criticised the Prime Minister’s remarks, saying that leaders who built modern India were being routinely insulted.

Echoing the criticism, Congress chief whip in the Rajya Sabha and general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh posted on X that the Prime Minister had delivered “another election rally speech” lasting 97 minutes. He described the speech as “overflowing with abuses and assaults, distortions and dramatics, innuendos and insults”, accusing Mr. Modi of “blatant and brazen lies” and of being driven by “self‑obsession” and “dialogue‑baazi”.

CPI(M) MP John Brittas said the office of Leader of the Opposition is on a par with the Prime Minister’s office in a democracy “We rarely get the opportunity to raise matters in front of the Prime Minister because he doesn’t come to the House. Today, he was there, so Mr. Kharge got up to express his views, but he was not allowed.”