Budget Session: Parliament on Spin as Narratives Dial Discourse

Budget session of parliament reaffirms that war of narrative dwarfs people’s priorities

By MANISH ANAND

New Delhi, February 6, 2026 — Parliament should resonate with sagely words. But parliament is susceptible to politics of the day. Debate on Motion of Thanks to President’s Address in parliament revealed an ugly truth—the House of the people is home to narrative crossfires.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi are in an eyeball-to-eyeball standoff. Modi set the stage for the disruptive force within the ranks of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to take the centre stage. He lauded Nishikant Dubey to set the tone in a parliamentary party meeting of the BJP on Tuesday. Dubey is widely known as the BJP’s disruptive chief in the Lok Sabha.

Gandhi on his party rubbed the raw nerves of the BJP by launching a direct assault on “muscular nationalism” of the ruling party. He flaunted an unpublished book of former Indian Army Chief Manoj Naravane. Gandhi questions the Modi leadership when Chinese army sent its soldiers with tanks to the border alongside eastern Ladakh.

The Prime Minister’s jugular vein in his political career has been his wont to play the victim card. That he did unfailingly one more time. Modi leaned on “Modi teri kabra khudegi (your grave will be dug)”, which allegedly was raised in Bihar’s “Vote Chori Yatra” by unidentified people. He sought to throw a narrative that the Congress “was baying for his blood because he was scripting development and empowerment of the people.” To assert his rhetoric, Modi mentioned that 18,000 villages were electrified on his watch.

But Opposition stuck to its guns. Audio clips played by the All India Radio News in its bulletin on Modi’s speech had the signature of the Opposition giving it back to the ruling party. “Tanashahi nahi chalegi (dictatorship will not work)” rang loudly.

The Opposition MPs accused the Modi government of turning parliament into a House where “only the voices convenient to it were allowed to be spoken.” Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla brought a theatrical spin to the sparring. He claimed that he had advised the Prime Minister to not come to the House after “getting an intelligence that there could be physical attack” on Modi.

For parliament observers, events unfolding is unprecedented. Democratic discourse as desired by commoners has become tales of folklore. Parliament is now home to a narrative warfare. The people denominator in parliament now evidently looks too weak.

(This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are author’s own.)

Cold Democracy: Parliament Worked, the People Didn’t Matter

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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