3 more Opposition MPs suspended, INDIA bloc holds protest march

The disciplinary action against opposition MPs in Parliament continued on Thursday after three more members were suspended in the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the winter session, even as the INDIA bloc held a protest march over similar actions against other lawmakers earlier.

The disciplinary action against opposition MPs in Parliament continued on Thursday after three more members were suspended in the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the winter session, even as the INDIA bloc held a protest march over similar actions against other lawmakers earlier.

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With the latest suspensions, 146 MPs in both Houses were penalised since December 14. While 100 MPs were suspended in the Lok Sabha, 46 were suspended in the Rajya Sabha.

The three MPs – Congress’s Deepak Baij, D K Suresh and Nakul Nath (son of Congress veteran Kamal Nath) – were suspended for displaying placards and entering the well of the Lok Sabha, after a resolution moved by Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi was adopted by the House.

All the suspensions were a result of the Opposition members’ refusal to budge on their demand for a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah on the Parliament security breach last week. The cases of three Lok Sabha MPs and 11 Rajya Sabha MPs have been referred to the privileges committee.

On Thursday, Joshi moved the resolution, taking “serious note of the grave misconduct of the Congress leaders”.

Earlier in the day, speaker Om Birla had warned the lawmakers for protesting in the House and asking the Chair to get them suspended.

“I don’t want to suspend anyone… I have not suspended any MP without any reason. You are tearing and throwing papers in the House,” Birla said.

Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die on Thursday, a day ahead of the scheduled end of the session.

To protest against the suspensions, INDIA bloc MPs marched from Parliament to Vijay Chowk in Delhi, with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asserting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had violated parliamentary privilege by not speaking on last week’s security breach issue inside the House.

Carrying a huge ‘Save Democracy’ banner and placards with messages like ‘Opposition MPs Suspended’, ‘Parliament Caged’ and ‘Democracy Expelled’ written on them, the lawmakers took out the march.

The three Congress MPs also condemned their suspension.

“There has been a security breach and it is atrocious. (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and his Cabinet need to give answers. I condemn the suspensions. It is a part of history to protest with placards. Even people in the BJP brought placards inside the House earlier but now a record number of people have been suspended (over this). This is only happening under the Narendra Modi government. The speaker should be giving more time to the Opposition to uphold parliamentary democracy but that is not what is happening,” Suresh said.

Congress MP Deepak Baij called the suspension “bad for democracy”.

“We were protesting inside the House and raising the issue of how parliamentary democracy was being attacked and our voices were being trampled. All we wanted was a discussion on the security breach in the House. The government cannot kick out all the Opposition members and conduct House proceedings to pass bills. This is bad for democracy and autocratic,” Baij said.

HT reached out to Nath for a comment but did not get one immediately.

The number of MPs suspended during the winter session is unprecedented, and far surpasses the 63 lawmakers who were suspended in 1989 during a debate on a report on former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination.