The Lok Sabha passed the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill on Monday, raising the court's sanctioned strength from 34 to 38 judges, but did so without any real debate as Opposition members disrupted proceedings throughout the day. The protests centered on two issues: police action against student demonstrators at Jantar Mantar, and allegations of mismanagement of funds at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
Proceedings were repeatedly interrupted by sloganeering and chanting, forcing the House to adjourn multiple times before finally resuming around 2 pm. Despite the disruption, two additional bills — the Bankers' Books Evidence Bill and the Indian Statistical Institute Bill — were introduced later in the day, again amid protest noise, and both eventually passed without formal opposition once objecting members chose not to press their concerns further.
At a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee, Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi, joined by other Opposition members, pressed for Home Minister Amit Shah to personally address the police crackdown on protesters and for a dedicated discussion on the Ram Temple fund allegations. Neither demand appears to have been met before the session concluded, leaving the Opposition's core grievances unresolved even as legislative business moved forward.
The day's developments were compounded by news from Tamil Nadu, where police in Thanjavur arrested Udayanidhi Stalin, the state's Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, on August 4 — an arrest likely to add further tension to an already charged political atmosphere heading into the following days of the session.
