Vande Mataram, Lok Sabha's Quietest 3 Minutes And A Total Washout

Three minutes and 10 seconds on Thursday morning was probably the quietest timeframe the Lok Sabha had witnessed this Monsoon Session.

The House assembled, the national song Vande Mataram was played, and Members, including the Prime Minister, stood in attention. The Speaker then announced the adjournment of the House sine die.

The House assembled to familiar scenes. As Home Minister Amit Shah arrived in the Lok Sabha before 11:00 am, the Opposition began shouting "apologise, apologise" and "who ordered the lathi-charge?"

MPs from the ruling side created a commotion in response as Shah gestured to everyone to take their seats. The ruling side MPs sat down. Amit Shah smiled at the Opposition's sloganeering.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi walked into the House. Vande Mataram played. "Adjourned sine die," declared Speaker Om Birla, capping a stormy session that saw sloganeering, ruckus, attacks and counter-attacks, and almost no debate apart from the discussion on the new law on paper leaks.

Interestingly, Birla did not read out the usual valedictory address in which he highlights the performance and productivity of the Lok Sabha during the session. There was little to talk about.

The session began on July 20 and witnessed vociferous protests by the Opposition, first over the NEET paper leak issue and later over alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

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Rajya Sabha too was adjourned sine die after a brief assembly that saw Congress raising the issue of insult to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Uttarakhand where his event venue was allegedly "purified" by a group post the rally.  

The Opposition continued to demand Shah's statement in the House on the crackdown on protesting students in the Capital on July 20.

NDA and Opposition protests outside Parliament

Shah had on Wednesday said he was ready for a debate and would respond to each and every query raised by the Opposition, and had urged the Speaker to allocate time in consultation with the Opposition to start the discussion on the students' issue.

But the proposal was rejected by the Opposition, which then started demanding Amit Shah's resignation.

"Who gave the order to shoot the students? Delhi Police and RAF come under the Home Ministry. Did Amit Shah give the order? If he did, he is culpable, if he didn't, he is incompetent. In both cases, he should resign," Rahul Gandhi said.

The acrimony did not end with the House adjournment, as INDIA bloc leaders boycotted the customary tea meeting with the Lok Sabha Speaker after the adjournment.

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While senior NDA leaders, including the Prime Minister, attended the Speaker's tea meet, INDIA bloc leaders stayed away.

Sources told NDTV that Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju urged Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and Congress MPs Priyanka Gandhi and KC Venugopal to attend the meet, but they declined and instead went to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at his office.

On paper, the Lok Sabha passed 11 bills, but apart from the law on paper leaks, all were rushed through amid ruckus without any discussion. The bills were passed by voice vote amid Opposition sloganeering, literally within minutes in most cases.

While the Lok Sabha spent around 11 hours debating the new law on paper leaks before passing it, the rest of the bills were just rushed through amid the din.

Sample this:

• The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Passed in 14 minutes
• The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Passed in 4 minutes
• The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, 2026: Passed in 4 minutes
• The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Passed in 3 minutes
• The Taxation and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Passed in 3 minutes
• The Bankers' Books Evidence Bill, 2026: Passed in 5 minutes
• The Tribunals Reforms Bill, 2026: Passed in 12 minutes
• The Kerala (Alteration of Name) Bill, 2026: Passed in 4 minutes
• The National Co-operative Development Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2026: Passed in 10 minutes
• The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2026: Passed in 5 minutes

On Wednesday, the House also saw an exchange for a few minutes as the government moved a proposal to send the FCRA Amendment Bill, 2026 to the Joint Parliamentary Committee. The Opposition, led by the Congress and SP, demanded withdrawal of the bill, calling it anti-minority and anti-NGO. The government rejected the charge and the bill was sent to the JPC.

The last day also saw competitive protests by the ruling and the Opposition side at the Parliament complex. While the INDIA bloc continued its protest targeting Amit Shah and raising the Ram Mandir donations issue, the ruling NDA protested against the police action on protesting students in Jharkhand, targeting the Congress and Rahul Gandhi on the issue.