Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Amid an escalating face-off between the Central government and the Opposition, two more opposition MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha on Wednesday for waving placards in the House.
With this, the number of suspended MPs in the Lower House stands at 97. So far, 143 MPs have been suspended from both the Houses of Parliament since the December 13 security breach incident in the Lok Sabha.
The suspended MPs include Thomas Chazhikadan of the Kerala Congress (Mani) and A M Ariff of the CPI(M). The MPs were suspended after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a resolution, which was adopted by the House.
More than 140 members have been suspended since last week for allegedly disrupting House proceedings demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the issue. As the stand-off intensifies, Opposition leaders said that they will hold a protest march at Jantar Mantar against the suspension of MPs. The parliamentarians will also hold a “mock Parliament”, according to sources. RJD MP Manoj Jha is likely to be the speaker for the mock proceedings.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the floor leaders of Opposition leaders of both the Houses at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s house. The leaders have also sought action against BJP MP Pratap Simha, who authorised the visitor pass for the intruders who jumped into the Lok Sabha gallery.
Meanwhile, in a sharp response to the suspension of the MPs, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said that “democracy has been strangulated by this government” for raising a “perfectly reasonable and legitimate demand”. Speaking at the Congress Parliamentary Party on Wednesday, Gandhi said, “Never before have so many Opposition Members of Parliament been suspended from the House, and that too, simply for raising a perfectly reasonable and legitimate demand.”
The Congress leader said the Opposition MPs had only asked for a statement from the Home Minister on the “extraordinary events”, when two intruders trespassed into the Lok Sabha chamber and set off coloured smoke, in a massive security breach.
“There are no words to describe the arrogance with which this request was treated,” Gandhi said. She said that the events that took place on December 13 were “inexcusable and cannot be justified”. “It took four days for the Prime Minister to address the nation and express his views on the incident, and he did so outside Parliament.
By doing so, he indicated his disdain for the dignity of the House and his disregard for the people of our country. I leave it to you to imagine how the BJP would have responded had they been in opposition today,” the Congress MP said. The BJP government has conducted a “systematic assault on democracy and the institutions that are its essential pillars, including Parliament,” the MP added.
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