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Bid to ‘throttle’ Oppn voice: Adhir attacks BJP over suspension
Chowdhury has maintained that a “simple formula” could have been to expunge his words but instead the government chose to suspend him from the House
New Delhi:The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has a “deliberate design to throttle the Opposition’s voice”, Congress floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said on Saturday, days after he was suspended from the Lok Sabha over “gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct” misconduct.
After a lengthy debate on the no-confidence motion ended on August 10, the BJP objected to parts of Chowdhury’s speech where he compared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Dhritarashtra and suggested that the PM is “Nirav” (silent in Bengali) on the Manipur crisis. While the expressions were later expunged, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi demanded the Congress floor leader’s apology in the House. Later, Joshi said that Chowdhury was suspended as he didn’t apologise.
The matter has now been referred to the Committee of Privileges for further investigation and Chowdhury will remain suspended from attending parliament proceedings till the committee submits its report. The monsoon session ended on August 11.
Reacting to his suspension, Chowdhury maintained that a “simple formula” could have been to expunge his words but instead the government chose to suspend him from the House.
“This is a new phenomenon we are experiencing in Parliament. I don’t know why one or two words, which were misconstrued by them as offensive, I was suspended. The simple formula is if anything is unparliamentary, they could have expunged,” he said. “There is a deliberate design by the ruling party to throttle the voice of opposition by using instruments which should not be applied on me.”
Refusing to apologise for the comments in the House, the Congress leader said: “I don’t know when my apology was sought for. Why should I apologize? I sought an apology from the President of India as I said something wrong. I can’t afford to satiate the thirst of vengeance and retaliation by anyone whosoever it is. It is not my fault.”
Chowdhury defended his expression “nirav” (silent) to describe Modi, saying that in Bengali, it is a common word for silence. “The BJP is making a mountain out of molehill,” he said, claiming that the government is worried about the India grouping and trying to mock the acronym, which stands for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.
The Congress leader added that he might consider the option of moving the court against his suspension.
“This is the first time in the history of Parliament that the floor leader of the largest opposition party has been suspended from the House,” parliamentary expert Ravindra Garimela said.
