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The stormy first leg of Parliament’s Budget session ended on Friday (February 13, 2026) with Congress president and Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge criticising the removal of portions of his speech from the Rajya Sabha records.
Noting that large portions of his speech on February 4 during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address were expunged from records, he said it was “against democracy and freedom of speech”.
Parliament Budget Session Day 12 LIVE
The second part of the Budget session will start on March 9 and the Budget session is scheduled to conclude on April 2.
Raising the matter of expunction at the start of Question Hour, Mr. Kharge said the deleted portions included criticism of government policies and even factual statements.
“I have served as a parliamentarian for over five decades, working as a legislator and Member of Parliament with dedication, always upholding dignity, decorum, and respect for language. Therefore, I sincerely request that the portions of my speech that were removed be reinstated, as they do not contain any unparliamentary or defamatory words, nor do they violate Rule 261. Removing such a large portion of my speech goes against democracy and the freedom of speech,” Mr. Kharge said.
Chairperson C.P. Radhakrishnan declined his request, saying, “This is not right, this is not democratic, you are instructing the Chair.”
Trade deal and memoir
The acrimonious session was dominated by clashes over the speech by the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on the India-U.S. interim trade deal and his insistence on quoting from former Army chief M.M. Naravane’s unreleased memoir, Four Stars of Destiny, about an incident during 2020 India-China conflict.
The Chair disallowed the excerpts, triggering repeated protests, adjournments and the suspension of eight Opposition MPs for unruly conduct. Mr. Gandhi was not allowed to complete his speech during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi skipped the customary reply in the Lok Sabha after Speaker Om Birla advised him to do so, citing “specific information that women MPs could resort to an unexpected act that would lower the dignity of his office”. The Prime Minister later replied to the debate in the Rajya Sabha.
The confrontation escalated further when Opposition parties submitted a notice seeking Mr. Birla’s removal as Speaker for allegedly conducting the proceedings in a blatantly manner, while BJP MP Nishikant Dubey gave notice for a substantive motion against Mr. Gandhi over his remarks.
Since the Opposition’s notice against the Speaker, Mr Birla has stayed away from presiding over the proceedings. However, protests and disruptions continued over various issues. On Friday, the Lower House witnessed an adjournment during the Question Hour as the Opposition demanded resignation of Union Petroelum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri over his name allegedly figuring in the Epstein Files.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju had earlier said the government would bring a privilege motion against the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha for making a serious allegation against Mr. Puri without giving prior notice. However, a major portion of Mr. Gandhi’s speech has already removed from the records.
On Friday, Mr. Rijiju said the government would not bring a separate motion as a private member had already submitted one. “Since a private member has already given notice for a substantive motion, the government will refrain from introducing its own motion,” he told reporters.
The Parliamentary Affairs Minister said the government would consult the Speaker on whether the private member’s motion should be sent to the Privileges Committee, the Ethics Committee, or be brought directly to the House. “It has not yet been decided,” Mr. Rijiju said.
A substantive motion is an independent, self-contained proposal placed before the House to express a decision or opinion, and can include plea for a specific action. Mr. Dubey said he had sought cancellation of Mr. Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership and a lifetime bar on contesting elections.
Amid the turmoil, Parliament passed a Bill to amend the Industrial Relations Code, the only legislation cleared in the first leg of the session.
Both Houses have now been adjourned for a three-week recess to allow department-related standing committees to examine budgetary allocations.
At the Business Advisory Committee meeting of the Rajya Sabha held on Thursday to plan the second part of the Budget session, several Opposition parties demanded debates on the working of the External Affairs, Commerce, and Rural Development Ministries. The Biju Janata Dal and the YSR Congress, both outside the INDIA bloc, also supported discussions on these three Ministries. The government, however, proposed that only the Rural Development and Environment Ministries be taken up for debate.
Published – February 13, 2026 11:55 am IST
