Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said Parliament was not a place for “drama” and Opposition parties should not use it to vent their frustration at electoral setbacks, appearing to taunt the BJP’s opponents on the opening day of the winter session.

Modi’s biting comments, coming days after the NDA’s landslide victory in the Bihar elections, were part of his customary media address at the start of a session. The Congress hit back, calling him the “biggest dramabaaz”.

Later in the day, the Rajya Sabha witnessed an Opposition walkout when the government said it was ready to discuss “electoral reforms” or the SIR — whatever the Opposition chose to call it — but refused to give a timetable.

“In this session, Parliament must stay focused on what it’s thinking for the country and what it intends to deliver…. The Opposition, too, should come out of the disappointment of (poll) defeat,” the Prime Minister told the media, before sharpening his attack.

Stressing the need to give first-time MPs an opportunity to speak, he said: “There are a lot of places to indulge in drama. Those who want to do that should do it elsewhere. Here, there should be no drama — only delivery.”

He continued: “There is an entire country available for slogan-shouting. You raised slogans where you lost; now raise them where you are going to lose. But here, the emphasis should be on policy.”

Modi then rubbed it in by offering the Opposition “tips” on how to improve its performance. He claimed that Opposition leaders were unable to face the people in the states they governed because of growing anti-incumbency, and were therefore using Parliament to vent their frustration.

“The policy they have been using for the past 10 years is not acceptable to the people. They should change their strategy,” he said.

“I am ready to offer tips on how they should perform…. But don’t sacrifice the rights of MPs because of your disappointment and defeat.”

The impact of the comments was evident as soon as the Lok Sabha convened for the day. Opposition members first stood at their seats demanding an immediate discussion on the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, and then stormed the Well of the House, chanting slogans.

Cries of “SIR bandh karo, vote chor gaddi chhod (Stop the SIR; step down, vote thief)” reverberated in the chamber over Speaker Om Birla’s appeals to allow Question Hour to proceed.

“This pre-planned attempt to disrupt the House is not good. The House is for debate and discussion and not slogan-shouting,” Birla said before adjourning the proceedings till noon.

Outside the House, Opposition leaders responded angrily to Modi’s remarks.

“On the first day of the winter session, instead of addressing the key issues before Parliament, Prime Minister Modi has once again made his ‘dramabazi delivery’!” the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress president, Mallikarjun Kharge, posted in Hindi on X.

Vowing to continue raising issues such as “vote theft” in Parliament, he asked the BJP to “end this drama of distraction and engagein debate”.

Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, declined the media’s requests to comment but his sister and Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had her say.

She said the SIR and air pollution were burning issues. “Let us discuss them. What is Parliament for? It’s not a drama,” she told reporters outside the House.

“Speaking about and raising issues is not drama. Drama is not allowing democratic discussions about issues that matter to the public.”

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee said: “What the Opposition is asking for is a debate on the SIR. Is it drama? If raising the people’s voice is drama, then people will give them a reply in the next election.”

In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said: “The PM never attends Parliament and undermines it. He never engages with the Opposition. Yet before every session he will stand outside the Parliament building and speak grandly to the nation…. The biggest dramabaaz of them all is talking of drama.”

After his media comments, Modi went to the Rajya Sabha to attend and address the felicitation of the new Chairman, C.P. Radhakrishnan. He left before the ceremony ended but spent some more time in his Parliament chamber.

The Treasury benches appeared unfazed by the Opposition’s aggression and transacted business amidthe din.

When the Lok Sabha reconvened at noon, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced three bills as Opposition members occupied the Well, sloganeering and demanding a discussion onthe SIR.

At 2pm, one of the bills — the Manipur Goods & Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill — was passed by voice vote amid the uproar.

The government is preparing to have a special discussion on 150 years of Vande Mataram later this week to try and corner the Opposition on the issue of “nationalism” and set the mood for the Bengal elections.

BJP managers said that if the Opposition disrupted a discussion on Vande Mataram, they would be “exposed” as being opposed to “Bharat Mata”.

The government had at a business advisory committee meeting on Sunday agreed to have a discussion on the broader issue of “electoral reforms” — as opposed to one specifically on the SIR — but did not providea timetable.

On Monday, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju told the Rajya Sabha that the government was ready for a discussion, whether the Opposition called it “SIR” or “electoral reforms”, and added that he would inform the House about the timeline soon.

Opposition members demanded a clear timetable and walked out when herefused.

“It (a timetable) is under consideration of the government. If you put a condition that it has to be taken up today, it is difficult. You have to give space,” Rijiju said.

Trinamool leader Derek O’Brien said the Opposition had little trust in the government. “The problem is the trust deficit. The last session passed, they did not discuss the SIR,” he said before the walkout.