17th Lok Sabha: PM Modi, ministers take oath as MPs; Smriti Irani receives longest applause in the first session

The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha commenced today and Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with other lawmakers and ministers, including Lok Sabha debutant Amit Shah, took oath as MPs. PM Modi while advising the opposition parties to "not dwell too much on the numbers" in the Lok Sabha said that views of the Opposition are necessary for the effective functioning of a democracy. The Prime Minister, speaking before the start of the budget session, said that he hoped for a "fruitful budget session" during which the government will present the Union Budget and will introduce certain key bills. It may be noted that before the session began, BJP's Virendra Kumar was sworn-in as the Pro Tem speaker. The elections will be conducted for the Speaker of Lok Sabha on Wednesday (June 19, 2019).

As per the convention, the house members stood in silence for a few minutes as soon as the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha began. When PM Modi's name was called out, the members of the ruling BJP-led NDA government thumped the desk and spoke slogans like 'Modi Modi' and 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'.

Narendra Modi, in his address ahead of the budget session commencement said, "In Parliament, we should forget 'Paksh', 'Vipaksh' and think about issues with 'nishpaksh spirit' (unbiased spirit) and work in the larger interest of the nation".

The PM expressed his happiness over the high number of women MPs in the Parliament and said that "I am happy that this new house has a high number of women MPs. My experience also suggests that when the Parliament functions smoothly, we are able to fulfil numerous aspirations of the people of India".

It is also worthwhile to note that Union Minister Smriti Irani, who defeated Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Amethi parliamentary constituency, received the longest applause when she took oath as MP of the 17th Lok Sabha today.

"While the Prime Minister and most of Union Ministers took oath in Hindi, Union Ministers Harsh Vardhan, Sripad Naik, Ashwini Chaubey and Pratap Chandra Sarangi took oath in Sanskrit", PTI reported. On the other hand, "D V Sadananda Gowda and Prahlad Joshi took oath in Kannada, Harsimrat Kaur Badal took oath in Punjabi", the report added.

Union Ministers Arvind Ganpat Sawant, Raosaheb Patil Danbe took oath in Marathi, Jitendra Singh in Dogri, Babul Supriyo in English, Rameshwar Teli in Assamese and Debashree Choudhury in Bangla. BJD leader Mehtab took oath in Odiya.

Meanwhile, the Union budget will be presented on July 5, 2019. As per reports, the fresh bill to ban instant triple talaq will be introduced in Parliament to replace an ordinance which was issued in February.

(Edited by: Nehal Solanki)

Also read: Don't bother about numbers, your every word is valuable: PM to Oppn

Also read: First session of 17th Lok Sabha starts today; budget, triple talaq in focus