Lok Sabha session: PM Modi takes oath as Lok Sabha MP, says Emergency was 'blot on democracy'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday took oath as Lok Sabha MP for the third time. Union ministers including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Piyush Goyal as well as former chief ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, HD Kumaraswamy and Shivraj Singh Chouhan also took the oath along with the Prime Minister. Nitin Gadkari took oath as Lok Sabha MP from Nagpur.

Before his oath-taking, the Prime Minister addressed the media and called for the need of arriving at a consensus while making decisions related to public good ahead of the Parliament session.He also said that the focus of the Lok Sabha session should be on achieving Sabka Saath. 

"We want to go ahead and speed up decisions by taking everyone together, by maintaining the sanctity of the Constitution," he said. He also said that the country expects the Opposition to be constructive and not indulge in needless sloganeering. 

"People do not want drama, disturbance. People want substance, not slogans. The country needs a good opposition, a responsible opposition and I have full faith that the MPs who have won in this 18th Lok Sabha will try to fulfill these expectations of the common man," he said. 

Furthermore, he attacked the Opposition over the emergency imposed by the Congress party in 1975. He said that June 25 was "a blot on democracy" and that he can never forget the "black days of emergency."

"The new generation of India will never forget that the Constitution of India was torn to pieces, the country was turned into a prison, democracy was completely suppressed... While protecting our Constitution, while protecting the democracy of India, the democratic traditions, the countrymen will take a resolution that no one will dare to do such a thing in India again which was done 50 years ago," he said. 

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took a jibe at the Prime Minister over his address ahead of the Parliament session. Ramesh said that Prime Minister did not state anything new in his address and resorted to diversion "as usual." 

"He has shown no evidence that he understands the true meaning of the people's verdict, which saw him eking out only a narrow and dubious win in Varanasi. Let him be under no doubt: the INDIA Janbandhan will hold him to account for every minute. He stands brutally exposed," the senior Congress leader said. 

The Lok Sabha session will start on June 24 and go on till July 3. Some key issues that the Opposition could highlight in this session include but are not limited to irregularities in the NEET-UG 2024 exam and Lok Sabha Speaker election.