What does the PM say?
Applauding himself and his government, PM Modi said, "the biggest achievement of 75 years of this House is this every-growing trust of the people in Parliament." He also said he was bidding an emotional farewell to the old parliament building.
"It is this Parliament where Pandit Nehru spoke at 'stroke of midnight hour' which continues to inspire everyone till date." While invoking names of leaders like Jawahar Lal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he also spoke about India's G20 success, space achievement and Chandrayaan-3.
"Emotional moment to bid goodbye to this building; many bitter-sweet memories have been associated with the old Parliament building."
Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge speaks
Ever since the special session of Parliament was announced, the Opposition has been posing a volley of questions to the Centre and accusing it of maintaining 'secrecy' about the special session's agenda.
On Monday, leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge read out a self-composed couplet as a part of his speech, which meant that the government should change the condition of the country and not merely rename things in the name of change. He also stressed that if the government wanted to give anything, it should be employment opportunities. Kharge punctuated his speech with sarcasm and said that wealthy people like Adani and cleaning workers exercise the same power with their vote.
Controversial bills
Of the total eight bills listed for consideration during the five-day long special session, there's also the one on the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners. The controversial bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha during the last monsoon session and had drawn widespread protests and criticism from the opposition.
The bill is contested on the grounds that it alters the service conditions of the CEC in a way to make it a puppet of the government and not independent. Currently, the service conditions of the CEC are at par with those of a Supreme Court Judge.
Other bills on the list
At the all-party meeting held on Sunday, reportedly floor leaders were informed that bills on the welfare of senior citizens and one on Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes have been added to the agenda. There has also been speculation about a bill on women's quota being on the list.
Some of the other bills listed for Lok Sabha include The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2023 (already passed by Rajya Sabha) and The Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, 2023 (earlier introduced in Rajya Sabha).
Will India's name be changed?
The two bills that are likely to completely change the character of India are One Nation, One Election and the other being a resolution to rename India as Bharat. The contentious bills have been endlessly doing the rounds of political circles and social media debates but will they be taken up, remains to be seen.
With an even stronger speculation that the Centre could pick up matters not mentioned in the agenda, nothing can be ruled out. On Tuesday, the session will be held in the new Parliament building.
