As the budget session of parliament commenced on Friday amid the coronavirus pandemic as well as the farmers protests, prime minister Narendra Modi urged fellow parliamentarians to make “full use of this sacred place of Parliament and following all the propriety of democracy”

“The first session of this decade is commencing today. This decade is very important for the bright future of India. And, therefore, a golden opportunity has come before the nation to fulfill the dreams seen by the freedom fighters fast,” he told mediapersons in the parliament house. “There should be proper utilization of this decade and, therefore, there should be discussions and presentation of different views for meaningful results keeping in mind this entire decade. These are the expectations of the country.”

He said he was sure that “the hope and expectation with which the people of the country have sent all of us to Parliament, we will not shy away from contributing to fulfill the aspirations of the people, by making full use of this sacred place of Parliament and following all the propriety of democracy. I have full faith that all the MPs will make this session more productive”.

In his Hindi remarks, Modi said, “This is also a budget session. Perhaps, for the first time in the history of India it has happened that our Finance Minister had to present four-five mini budgets as separate packages in 2020. That is, the series of mini budgets continued in a way in 2020. And I am confident that this budget will also be seen as a part of the series of those four-five budgets.”
 

The session began with the president’s address to parliament, which the opposition members boycotted, pressing for their demands in support of the agitating farmers. Several organizations of farmers have been holding protests on the borders of the capital, demanding repeal of the three agriculture laws passed in the last session of parliament in 2020.