The Trinamool’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien coined a new word to define the Narendra Modi government’s alleged fear of facing a special session of Parliament to discuss Operation Sindoor.

“Parliamentophobia (noun),” O’Brien wrote on his X handle on Wednesday afternoon. “My word for the acute condition of a (Modi) government who have a morbid fear of facing Parliament. Running away from a special session.”

O’Brien’s comment came after the Union parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju informed about the government’s decision to convene the monsoon session of the Parliament from July 21 to August 12, overriding a united opposition’s demand for a special session.

“Within 18 hours of 17 MPs writing a letter to the government demanding a special session, they announced this. This was not surprising at all. They are scared to face the opposition,” O’Brien told The Telegraph Online.

O’Brien had to make up a word to express the opposition’s exasperation with the Modi government’s keeping the opposition in the dark. The closest in the English vocabulary is the word Glossophobia, which the Cambridge dictionary defines as the fear of public speaking.

Following the terror attack in Pahalgam and India’s targeted strikes on terror camps allegedly operating from Pakistani soil, the opposition parties have been demanding a special session. Within days of the Pahalgam terror attack, the government held an all-party meeting, though Prime Minister Narendra Modi has skipped the session.

The Opposition also accused the BJP-led government of unilaterally selecting the names of the delegates to the team comprising parliamentarians, diplomats and former ministers to 33 countries for almost a fortnight.

In addition, the Opposition has repeatedly asked the government to come clean on the role of the US in the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Prime Minister Modi is yet to clarify whether the US President Donald Trump had indeed brought about the ceasefire as he has claimed multiple times.

Revelations made by CDS Anil Chauhan, during an interview with Bloomberg, where he admitted India might have suffered losses in the four-day war with Pakistan had further upset the Opposition.

“The government has briefed foreign nations and the media, but not Parliament — keeping the people of India and their elected representatives in the dark. Therefore, we urge you to convene a special session of Parliament immediately upon the return of the all-party delegations,” says the letter sent on Tuesday. It has been signed by the leader of the Opposition in both the Houses, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, besides senior members of 15 other parties.