High drama unfolded in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (February 3) as eight opposition MPs were suspended following repeated disruptions during the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, after Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi was stopped from speaking in the House.

The suspensions came shortly after Gandhi accused the government outside Parliament of deliberately silencing him. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “compromised” and claimed that the recently concluded India–US trade deal was the result of pressure arising from two issues — the case against billionaire Gautam Adani in the United States and revelations linked to the Epstein files that are yet to be made public.

When the House reconvened on Tuesday afternoon and Gandhi resumed his reply to the Motion of Thanks, he began by stating that he had authenticated The Caravan article based on former Army chief General M.M. Naravane’s unpublished memoir, which carried excerpts from the book. Although Gandhi sought to make his point without directly quoting the article, Telugu Desam Party MP Krishna Prasad Tenneti objected and proceeded to call the next speaker. As opposition members raised slogans and threw papers in protest, the House was adjourned till 3 pm.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament, Gandhi reiterated his allegations against the Prime Minister.

“Modi ji is scared. The trade deal that was stuck for four months, nothing changed, but for some reason that I know and Modi ji knows, he signed the deal last evening. There is immense pressure on Narendra Modi ji. The balloon of the Narendra Modi Ji image, created with thousands of crores, can burst,” he said.

He insisted that the controversy over Gen Naravane’s memoir was not the real issue. 

“The issue is not Naravane’s statement. This is a side show. He also knows this, and so do I. The main thing is that our Prime Minister has been compromised. The people of India will have to think who has done it and why. But for the first time in history, the leader of opposition has been stopped from speaking after the Presidential address,” Gandhi said.
 

PM Modi is Compromised.

PM is too afraid to let me speak in Parliament about Naravane, Epstein Files and how he has surrendered on Tariffs. pic.twitter.com/V1J6yxZDM2

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 3, 2026

Linking the issue to farmers and the trade agreement, he added, “The farmers of India must understand that in this trade deal, Narendra Modi has sold off your labour and blood and sweat. And that’s because he is compromised now. Not just you, the entire country has been sold. That’s why I am not being allowed to speak there (inside the House).”

Gandhi further alleged external pressure on the Prime Minister.

“Narendra Modi is scared. Because the people who made his image have started to burst it. There is one case against Adani in the US. That case targets not Adani but Modi’s financial structure. The other is the Epstein files. There is more to [it] which has not been released yet. This is why under this pressure, of what is there in these files, and the case against Adani which is BJP and Modi’s financial structure are pressure points. The country must understand that the Prime Minister is compromised.”

Other opposition leaders also criticised the government’s handling of the matter. Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Manoj Kumar Jha said the ruling dispensation had “in a way exposed itself” by objecting to Gandhi’s speech.

“I have also read that portion of the book. In a healthy democracy, in a country like India, the concern shouldn't be whether the truth will come out. The concern should be what will be done after the truth comes out,” he told ANI.

Congress MP Karti Chidambaram accused the government of trying to suppress the Opposition leader’s voice.

“I have never seen a government so vehemently opposing a quote from a former army chief, a respected soldier who spent his entire life defending us, who has written an autobiography, and this government is hell-bent on suppressing his voice because they don't want the truth to come out. So obviously there are some very, very deep truths in it, which are embarrassing to the leadership of this government, and that is why they are behaving in this way, hiding behind parliamentary procedure, quoting rules which are not really relevant to suppress the voice of the leader of the opposition...” Chidambaram said.

When the Lok Sabha resumed at 3 pm, BJP MP Dilip Saikia, who was presiding as the Chair, named eight MPs for disorderly conduct.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju moved a motion to suspend Congress MPs Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, Dean Kuriakose, Prashant Padole, C. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Manickam Tagore, and CPI(M) MP S. Venkatesan. The motion was passed by a voice vote, following which the House was adjourned for the day.

The confrontation followed scenes of chaos on Monday, when Gandhi first raised references to Gen Naravane’s yet-to-be-published memoir, which reportedly includes revelations about how the former Army chief was handed a “hot potato” while dealing with Chinese troop movements in August 2020. Gandhi managed to read only four words — “Chinese tanks in Doklam” — before treasury bench MPs interrupted him, triggering uproar in the House.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh objected, questioning whether the book Gandhi was citing had been published.

“He cannot claim to quote from it,” Singh said, adding, “I can say with confidence, the book has not been published.”

The Lok Sabha was subsequently adjourned multiple times before being taken up again on Tuesday.

While Speaker Om Birla cited Rule 349 to bar Gandhi from quoting the article containing excerpts from the memoir, Gandhi on Tuesday said he had authenticated the article on the floor of the House. However, Rijiju maintained that the book could not be referred to even after authentication.

“As I said yesterday, a very important matter in the President’s speech is the matter of national security and our relationship between us and the Chinese and the Pakistanis. There is a very important matter that is quoted inside this article that I have authenticated which speaks about the reaction of the Prime Minister,” Gandhi said.

Tenneti, who was then presiding, asked Gandhi to restrict his remarks to the President’s Address. Rijiju said the matter had already been settled.

“Let us clear the confusion. Today also I have requested K.C. Venugopal and Gaurav Gogoi. We are patiently waiting to listen to the leader of the opposition. The paper he has authenticated is on the table of the house. But when ruling has been given he cannot be quoting the same matter again in the pretext of making a reference indirectly. He cannot refer to the same matter. Please avoid referring to a matter which is settled,” he said.

As Gandhi attempted to speak about India’s foreign policy direction and said the “main issue in international affairs is the conflict between China and the United States”, treasury bench MPs again protested.

“All I am saying is I want to make a statement on what happened between China and India and how our Prime Minister reacted to it. Why am I being stopped? In Ladakh, there was a conflict, our soldiers were killed,” Gandhi said.

With continued protests from the treasury benches, Tenneti moved on to other speakers. Opposition MPs then rose in protest, threw papers in the House, and were subsequently suspended, bringing the day’s proceedings to an abrupt end.