New House has high number of women MPs

New Delhi: In a bid to reach out to Opposition parties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that an “active Opposition” is important for parliamentary democracy and assured that the government values “every word” of the Opposition whose leaders need not “bother about their numbers”.

Later, the Prime Minister led the new MPs in taking oath amid slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” and “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.

Mr Modi also said that the new House has a high number of women MPs. “My experience suggests that when the Parliament functions smoothly, we are able to fulfil numerous aspirations of the people of India.”

Asking for support from the Opposition for smooth running of Parliament, Mr Modi said, “After several decades, a government has won absolute majority for the second term. People have given us the chance to serve the country again. I request all the parties to support the decisions that are in favour of people.”

The spirit of impartiality is important and the government will try to preserve the dignity of Parliament in the next five years, he added.

The government is on an overdrive to ensure that there is bipartisan approach when it comes to passing legislation in both the Houses. On Monday, parliamentary affairs minister Prahalad Joshi along with Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar had met the Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi to ensure the smooth functioning of Parliament. They also met leaders of other Opposition parties.

In the all-party meeting chaired by the Prime Minister on Sunday the government requested cooperation from all parties for the smooth functioning of both the Houses of Parliament.