New Delhi: Lok Sabha MP Gaurav Gogoi during the motion of thanks on the president’s address accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being a “maharaja” who has turned parliament from a “temple of democracy” to a “king’s court”, in a speech that was interrupted several times by speaker Om Birla as the Congress’s deputy leader in the house criticised the BJP government.During his 25-minute speech, Gogoi began by saying that while proceedings in the new parliament building started last year, President Droupadi Murmu was only seen in the building during her address on Wednesday.Gogoi was then interrupted by the treasury benches when BJP MP Nishikant Dubey got up to state that Gogoi had misrepresented Murmu’s statement during her address.“The president stated that she was addressing both houses of parliament for the first time. The President only addresses parliament once a year and she did so. Now whether she came to the inauguration of the new parliament or not is an attempt to influence the debate and his remarks should be expunged,” Dubey said.Gogoi then said that opposition parliamentarians were interrupted during their speeches but members of the treasury benches could raise any matter in the house.Referring to Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi’s statement earlier in the day, when he demanded an apology from the Congress for the remarks made by its MP, D.K. Suresh, on a “separate south India”, Gogoi said that the opposition was not “allowed to lodge their protest”.He added that during the previous winter session, when they demanded a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah on the parliament security breach, that was not allowed either.Birla then asked Gogoi to speak on the president’s address and on the government’s policies, but proceeded to interrupt Gogoi several times.“For the first time in our parliamentary history, we have seen that 146 MPs were suspended in a day and then 14 Bills were passed in three days. This has not been seen in the world. A woman MP was also suspended,” he said referring to TMC MP Mahua Moitra’s expulsion.Birla then interrupted him and asked him not to make remarks on the decisions of the house.“We used to refer to this house as the temple of democracy,” continued Gogoi.“But after 2014, slowly and steadily, we are seeing an effort by the government to convert this temple of democracy into a raj darbar [court] of a vishesh samrat [special king],” he said.Birla then interrupted him again and said that he cannot make allegations against the house in which he was speaking.“You have raised questions against the parliament’s system,” said Birla.Gogoi then said that he is talking about the parliamentary system in the country under the BJP government.“When the prime minister comes to the house, he is greeted with slogans. The responsibility with which we come to parliament has been forgotten. And the maharaja also comes and leaves without taking a single question from any department of government,” he said.Birla interrupted him again and asked him to speak on the president’s motion of thanks.“I am talking about the history of this house. There have been many prime ministers and all have abided by their responsibilities by answering questions. But for the first time, we have seen a maharaja who has not answered a single question of any department in the last five years.“It may be his personal desire to convert India’s democracy into a rajtantra [monarchy],” he said amid protests from the treasury benches and Birla.Gogoi then accused the BJP government of “event management” and “attention management.”“This government has a doctorate in event management. They have a PhD in attention management. When we ask why the prime minister didn’t go to Manipur, they say look at the G20, the prime minister is in Paris. When we say 100 people died during demonetisation, they say look at Modi’s face on Paytm,” he said.“When we raise questions on China entering our territory, they try to divert the attention by saying that ‘we are more powerful than the Maldives’. When we say coal mines have been given to Adani, they suspend Rahul Gandhi. “When farmers die by suicide, youth say they are unemployed, women say that there is inflation, when 10% of the population is controlling 50% of the country’s wealth, they claim to be the fastest-growing economy. “They use bhram [lies] to hide their failures to weaken democracy. They want to trap people in a mayajaal [net of illusion] to make the king more powerful,” he said.Gogoi added that while he respects the humble beginnings of the prime minister, he has lost touch with the common people of India.“But the sad part is that he has taken his chair to such a height that he cannot listen to the problems faced by the people. He cannot see the tears of the unemployed youth. He has reached such a height that he cannot see educated unemployed graduates. In the search for jobs, our youth are leaving the country,” Gogoi said.“A few days back a movie called Dunki was released. Dunki is not merely a movie, it is the reality,” Gogoi said.He said the government itself had admitted that illegal immigration by Indian immigrants have increased.“In 2022-23, 90,000 people tried to enter the US illegally, sometimes from Canada, sometimes from Mexico. They are forced to go to the UAE, Canada and America, leaving their families and homes behind,” Gogoi said.“The maharaja is sitting on such a high singhasan [chair] that he cannot see this,” he said.