Why A 2005 Manmohan Singh Parliament Clip Is Back In Focus

An old clip of former prime minister Manmohan Singh is going viral on social media after the Congress shared it amidst the ongoing Parliament logjam. The video, from 2005, shows Singh addressing Lok Sabha and mentioning how he was denied the opportunity to respond to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address the year before, i.e. in 2004. The video was shared by Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on X.Posting the video on X, Jairam Ramesh wrote: "This is the video of Dr Manmohan Singh’s speech on March 10 2005 - where he refers to the fact that he was prevented from replying to the Motion of Thanks on June 10, 2004."Ramesh, in another post, quoted Singh to write, "Mr. Speaker, Sir, I deem it a great privilege to be standing here today to express

the gratitude of our Government to the respected Rashtrapatiji for his address to members of both Houses of Parliament.

"Sir, this is a hard earned privilege for me since I have had to wait out the entire year to perform this happy task. | would like to take this opportunity to doubly thank the President—for his Address last year and his Address this year."The video has gained renewed attention after Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi was stopped from speaking during a recent Lok Sabha address. This was followed by Opposition MPs protesting in the well of the House, leading to the cancellation of PM Narendra Modi's reply to the Motion of Thanks on Wednesday at 5 pm.Women opposition MPs rushed towards the PM's seat, holding placards and opposing the US trade deal, and the remarks linked to former Army chief MM Naravane's unpublished book, which Gandhi had sought to quote during his address but was prevented from. PM Modi was not present in the House at the time.Despite repeated efforts by Chair Sandhya Rai to restore order, the Lok Sabha was adjourned.Gandhi had sought to cite excerpts from the unpublished memoir during a parliamentary debate to raise the issue of the India-China confrontation in August 2020. Naravane, the author of the book, was serving as Army Chief during the Ladakh standoff.Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah immediately interrupted Gandhi's speech to question the use of what they called was an "unpublished" or an unverified source. Gandhi, on his part, sought to defend it, calling the excerpts "100% authentic".While PM Modi is now scheduled to speak in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, his Lok Sabha address stands cancelled, with the Motion of Thanks already passed.