PM Narendra Modi to speak in Lok Sabha today after Rahul Gandhi's fiery attack over NEET, Agniveer

A day after Rahul Gandhi's fiery maiden speech as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to speak in the lower House of Parliament on Tuesday, July 2. Modi will issue his reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in the Lok Sabha.

Before his speech in the Parliament, Modi will address the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) parliamentary party meeting at 9:30am. This will be his first address to the ruling bloc's MPs after winning his third term in office.

The development assumes significance as the BJP, for the first time since 2014, has lost the majority in the Lok Sabha in the recently held polls and depends on its allies for the government's continuation. While the BJP won 240 seats, its allies won 53, leading to the NDA comfortably crossing the halfway mark in the 543-member House.

The Motion of Thanks debate, initially scheduled for Friday, faced delays and disruptions after the opposition MPs protested against the irregularities in the NEET examination, demanding discussions on the same.

Modi's reply will come a day after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's multi-pronged attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over its remarks during the Lok Sabha elections, NEET paper lead allegations and the Agnipath scheme.

Claiming that an Agniveer is not called a ‘martyr’, Rahul Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha on Monday, “One Agniveer lost his life in a landmine blast but he is not called a 'martyr'... 'Agniveer' is a use and throw labourer.”

During his reply, Gandhi teamed the Hindu symbol 'Abhayamudra' which gestures fearlessness, reassurance and safety, as the symbol of the Congress party, and attacked the BJP for “only talking about violence, hate.”

"Abhayamudra is the symbol of the Congress...The Abhayamudra is the gesture of fearlessness, is the gesture of reassurance and safety, which dispels fear and accords divine protection and bliss in Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism and other Indian religions...All our great men have spoken about non-violence and finishing fear...But, those who call themselves Hindu only talk about violence, hatred, untruth...Aap Hindu ho hi nahi," the Congress leader said.

His speech sparked a backlash from NDA leaders, who accused him of associating violence with Hinduism and asked him to issue a public apology for his remarks in the Parliament.

(With inputs from PTI)