Venugopal gives privilege notice against PM to Lok Sabha Speaker over Saturday address to nation

NEW DELHI: Congress leader K C Venugopal has submitted a privilege notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Lok Sabha Speaker, accusing him of casting aspersions on opposition MPs during his address to the nation after the rejection of the bills by the House on implementing women's reservation in 2029.

"Imputing motives" to members for their voting behaviour is a deliberate breach of privilege and contempt of the House, he alleged and urged Speaker Om Birla to refer the matter to the Committee on Privileges of the Lok Sabha for a detailed inquiry.

In his notice submitted under Rule 222 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, he claimed that on April 18, 2026, the Prime Minister addressed the nation on national television, following the defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 2026.

The bill had failed to secure the required two-thirds majority as required under the provisions of Article 368 of the Constitution.

The Congress general secretary and MP from Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency in Keralam said that in the 29-minute speech termed as 'address to the nation', the Prime Minister criticised opposition parties for blocking the bill and made direct reflections on the voting pattern of members of the opposition and attributed motives to them.

Venugopal said it is well established that casting reflections, aspersions and imputing motives to members of Parliament in regard to speeches made by them in Parliament tantamount to "gross breach of privilege and contempt of the House".

"I therefore submit this notice of breach of privilege to your good office, Hon'ble Speaker, to take cognisance of this grave incident as a clear and deliberate breach of privilege and contempt of the House, and to refer the matter to the Committee on Privileges of the Lok Sabha for a detailed inquiry so that privilege proceedings can be initiated against the Prime Minister," Venugopal said in his notice.

The Congress leader said this matter deserves to be treated with the utmost seriousness, as questioning an elected representative performing his duty "is not merely a personal assault but a direct affront to the authority of Parliament and to the democratic rights of the people of India".

"I urge you, the Hon'ble Speaker, to take immediate and decisive steps to uphold the sanctity of Parliament and the constitutional protections afforded to its Members, so that such violations are neither ignored nor repeated," the notice said.

Venugopal said that the PM addressing the nation, after the government is not able to muster the requisite majority in Parliament, for criticising the opposition parties is "unprecedented, unethical and blatant abuse of power".

"Such statements by the highest executive functionary of the country constitute a serious breach of privilege and contempt of the House," Venugopal alleged.

Tagging Venugopal's letter, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said a sitting PM’s address to the nation has always been reserved for the overriding purpose of national unity and confidence-building.

"The Prime Minister’s unabashed partisan demagoguery during this address - with 59 different attacks on the Congress party - will be yet another permanent stain on his record as Prime Minister," Ramesh alleged.

Venugopal said in his notice that the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2026, "in the guise of implementing" Women's reservation in Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies "surreptitiously sought to amend Article 82 of the Constitution in as much as by doing away with constitutional protection/guardrail vis a vis Delimitation and leave it to the whims and fancies and mala intents of the ruling party", and this is what the opposition members were protesting.

The bill, which sought to strike at the very roots of the basic structure of the Constitution, fell, and rightly so, he said, adding it is appalling that the Prime Minister had "cast aspersions" on MPs who were honestly performing their duties, and in this case protecting the Constitution.

"Hence these observations by the Prime Minister cast aspersions on the independence and integrity of elected Members of Parliament, question the manner in which Members of the Opposition exercised their parliamentary duties; and attribute motives to their voting behaviour," Venugopal alleged his notice.

He also claimed that under parliamentary convention and fundamental privilege of every Member (protected under Article 105 of the Constitution), no person, including the Prime Minister, shall reflect upon the conduct or voting of any Member in the House or attribute motives to such conduct.

"Any such reflection or imputation directly undermines the dignity and authority of the House and interferes with the free and independent discharge of parliamentary duties by its Members.

"Apart from the violation of the Model Code of Conduct, the Prime Minister's speech on national television, therefore, amounts to a clear and serious breach of privilege of the House and of every Member of the Opposition," Venugopal said.