Ruckus during Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur's oath taking in Parliament

Newly elected BJP MP from Bhopal, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, on Monday created a ruckus in Parliament by adding the name of her spiritual guru with her name while taking oath, drawing strong protest from the opposition.

"I...Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur Poorn Chetnand Avdheshanand Giri", Sadhvi Pragya said while taking oath in Sanskrit. The opposition MPs objected to this saying the BJP MP has modified the wordings of oath. The opposition MPs claim that Swami Avdheshanand Giri's name was not mentioned in Sadhvi Pragya's record that she submitted in the election affidavit and the rules did not allow her to take the name of her spiritual guru.

Sadhvi Pragya said that that it was her full name and she had mentioned that in the form she had filled before oath taking. Pro-tem Speaker Virendra Kumar intervened amid ruckus and asked the Lok Sabha Secretary General to provide him the full name of Sadhvi Pragya. Kumar tried to pacify the opposition MPs by saying that only the name written in Sadhvi Pragya's election certificate would go on record of Lok Sabha. Sadhvi Pragya then completed her oath in Sanskrit and ended it with 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' slogan. It is to be noted that Sadhvi Pragya defeated senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh to make her Lok Sabha debut.

Earlier on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath as a member of the new Lok Sabha amid thunderous applause. PM Modi, who is also the leader of the House, took oath after being re-elected from Varanasi parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha election. After the PM, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Home Minister Amit Shah took oath as Lok Sabha members. 

The election for Speaker of the Lok Sabha is scheduled to take on June 19, and President Ram Nath Kovind will address the joint session of Parliament on June 20. The Budget Session of Parliament, which convened on Monday, will be devoted to Oath taking, Election of Speaker, the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address, Financial Business relating to Union Budget for 2019-20. Union Budget and some key legislations like Triple Talaq bill will also be passed in this Session.