A hug and a verbal joust: How the last no-trust vote Modi faced shaped LS poll battle

With Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla admitting a no-confidence motion moved by the Congress on Wednesday, the Narendra Modi government will face its second no-trust vote in nine years in the next 10 business days. The Modi government faced its first no-trust motion in 2018 and the discussion on the motion moved by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had its share of drama and theatrics, courtesy then Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul’s surprise and sudden walk across the aisle to embrace PM Modi after delivering a sharp attack on him and the BJP government as also his smile and wink — which has become a popular meme template — at his party colleagues after returning to his seat stood out. Gandhi’s broadside and Modi’s no-holds-barred counter-attack on the Congress during the discussion virtually set the pitch for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

It all began in March 2018 when Chandrababu Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party (TDP), which was then in power in Andhra Pradesh, walked out of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the demand for special category status for the state. The TDP also announced that it would bring a no-confidence motion against the government in the Lok Sabha. The TDP did so.

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Not to be left behind, the YSR Congress Party of Jagan Mohan Reddy, then in opposition in Andhra, too gave notices for a no-confidence motion. The notices were given by Y V Subba Reddy, Thota Narasimham, and Jayadev Galla. But the motions were not admitted with the then Speaker Sumitra Mahajan telling the House that “unless the House is in order, I will not be in a position to count the 50 members who have to stand in their assigned places so that I can ascertain as a to whether the leave has been granted or not”.

The 2018 Budget session saw the Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge and the CPI(M)’s P Karunakaran also giving notices for bringing a no-confidence motion. But, finally, none of the notices were admitted.

During the Monsoon Session that July, TDP MP Galla again gave a notice for moving a no-confidence motion during the Monsoon Session. The notice was admitted and a discussion took place on July 20. There were many surprises. The Shiv Sena, then an ally of the BJP both at the Centre and in Maharashtra, boycotted the discussion. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) staged a walkout, also shying away from participating in the discussion.

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While the motion was defeated 126-325 votes, the discussion that went on for about 12 hours was gripping, with the Gandhi and Modi crossing swords. In a blistering attack, Gandhi accused the Prime Minister of unleashing “jumla strikes” on people and of becoming a “bhagidar (partner)” in the Rafale fighter deal instead of acting as the “chowkidar (watchman)” he had promised to be during the 2014 election campaign.

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Gandhi singled out Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, alleging that they fear losing power because they know that “other processes will start against them” as soon as they are out of office. Attacking the Prime Minister over the Rafale deal, Gandhi said Modi appeared nervous and unable to look him in the eye. He also targeted him over lack of job creation, increasing incidents of lynching, atrocities against women, and agrarian distress.

Asking the PM pointed questions on the Rafale deal, Gandhi said “I know, I can see he is smiling but there is a touch of nervousness in the gentleman. He is looking away from me. I can understand that. Now, he cannot look into my eyes. I can see that. It is because the Prime Minister has not been truthful.”

And then in a surprise move, Gandhi walked across the aisle to Modi and shook hands. He then gestured to Modi to get up so they could hug. As a visibly surprised Prime Minister stayed put in his seat, Gandhi stepped forward and embraced him.

Modi hit back equally hard when it was his turn. He called the Nehru-Gandhi family “thekedar (contractor)” and “saudagar (trader)” and said the aim of the no-confidence motion was spreading instability in the country through “negative politics”. Taking a dig at the Congress and the Opposition, he said, “I pray to God to give you the strength to bring a no-confidence motion in 2024 also.”

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“Those who don’t have confidence in themselves cannot trust anyone … No-confidence motion is actually a force test for the Congress to secure their luck in the 2019 election. To remove one Modi, see who all they are trying to bring together,” he said.

About Gandhi’s hug and his gesture to him to get up, Modi asked why he was in such a hurry to occupy his seat. “Only the 125 crore people of this country” get to decide who sits on the Prime Minister’s chair, he said looking at Gandhi.

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To Gandhi’s charge that he had become a “bhagidhar” and not a “chowkidar”, Modi said it was true as he was now a “bhagidar” in the growth and development of Indians.

“Today in the House, I was told that I cannot even look straight in the eye. How can I? I am a humble, poor son of a poor mother. How can I dare to look straight into the eyes of a naamdaar? I am a kaamdaar … I am proud to say, I am a chowkidar and a bhagidar but not a thekedar or a saudagar. I am a bhagidar of the country’s development,” he said.