MPs suspension from Parliament highlights: ‘What do you have to win 400 seats?’ Kharge targets PM Modi

The Congress on Friday held protests at all district headquarters in Chhattisgarh against the suspension of opposition MPs during the Winter session of Parliament.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday attacked the opposition for "boycotting" a debate in Parliament on the three criminal law bills by "making excuses" and also hit out at them for mimicking the vice president.

He was addressing a gathering during the inauguration of several development projects here.

"I wanted the opposition to give their views on them," the Union minister said, referring to the criminal law bills.

"But it was unfortunate that the opposition decided to take an unfortunate decision of boycotting the discussion on this bill by making excuses... When debate was taking place (in Parliament) on bringing a change in the criminal justice system, opposition members were mimicking the vice president," he said.

The Madhya Pradesh Congress on Friday protested here against the suspension of opposition MPs from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha for seeking a reply from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the December 13 Parliament security breach issue.

The Himachal Pradesh Congress on Friday staged protests against the BJP-led central government across district headquarters of the state for suspending 146 opposition MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Several party leaders, office-bearers and a large number of workers participated in these protests that were led by the respective district presidents.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Under our Constitution, everyone has the right to speak. When we give notice (in Parliament) we are not even given a chance to read the notice. Should I say that the BJP govt is not letting a Dalit speak? You cannot take away our right to speak. This freedom was given to us by Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. You suspend Opposition MPs and pass laws unopposed. We have to fight together."

"A few days ago, 2-3 youths jumped inside the Parliament House, we all saw, they came inside and spread some smoke. All the BJP MPs ran away. First of all, how did those people come inside, they brought gas cylinders inside the Parliament. If they could bring that then they could have brought anything. The second question is why did they protest? The reason for this was unemployment. There is huge unemployment in the country. The youth of this country cannot get employment today," Rahul Gandhi said.

INDIA bloc leaders in Bihar are protesting against the en masse suspension of members of Parliament in the just-concluded winter session.

The state's ruling coalition, known as 'Mahagathbandhan' in common parlance, comprises six of the INDIA bloc's constituents, namely Congress, RJD, JD(U), CPI(ML) Liberation, CPI and CPI(M).

“Sending the opposition out and passing the bills without a discussion, silencing those who demand an answer on the smoke bomb, then where is the democracy? If they don't want to give statements on China and Pakistan, then how will the country function?... They don't care about them (the soldiers). They are only concerned about how they can send the MPs out and do whatever they want,” Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said.

"The Speaker is the custodian of the Parliament. The Lok Sabha Speaker is saying repeatedly that he is responsible for the security. Why are they not trusting what the Speaker is saying? They were deliberately looking for revenge after the defeat in the assembly elections. They had been planning internally and they got the opportunity," Congress' KC Venugopal said.

"They themselves came and said to suspend them. Congress Party has such a low-level strategy," Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said at a presser. Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said, "The Speaker is the custodian of the Parliament. The Lok Sabha Speaker is saying repeatedly that he is responsible for the security. Why are they not trusting what the Speaker is saying? They were deliberately looking for revenge after the defeat in the assembly elections. They had been planning internally and they got the opportunity."

“(PM) Modi has so much pride...he says he will win 400 seats even before the (Lok Sabha) elections. Is he so popular?” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge asked. He further took a jab at the Prime Minister and asked “What do you have to win 400 seats?”. “What happened in Karnataka, Telangana and HP? The people who have elected him will bring him down,” he added.

“You are in a constitutional post. You have to uphold it, not whinge about caste and say I am being targeted for my caste. The treasury benches prevent me from speaking when I get up, so can I say they are preventing me from speaking because I am a Dalit?” Congress president Malikarjun Kharge said.

“Some days back 2 people breached Parliament security and the BJP MPs ran away. They call themselves nationalist but we saw how feared they were. First question..How did they come in? Security was breached...how did the gas cylinder come inside? Something else also could have been brought. The protestors came in to raise unemployment. Youth remains unemployed in our country.....in a survey we found that under NaMo govt a youth spends 7.5 hours surfing the phone. This is the condition of our youth. A security breach did happen but they raised important issues. In media they never said that unemployment was raised. Only thing they say is Rahul Gandhi took video of the mimicry. Never was the issue of our suspension was raised,” Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said. He also alleged, “Parliament security breach is your (central government) fault.”

“I just want to say that parliament is being attacked and the price is being paid by the 146 MPs who were suspended. The state of farmers in our country is devastating, poor are suffering, unemployment is rampant and the reason is the BJP. We will strive to fight against them and stay united,” NCP chief Sharad Pawar said.

"Democracy is being murdered. No one has ever heard of so many suspensions in the Parliament. If they win next time they might wipe off Parliament as well. To save democracy is quintessential now and that's why the INDIA bloc has gathered today. The backbone of democracy has been shattered after they suspended over 140 MPs. Amrit Kal will come but now the Amrit Kalash has been poisoned and is in wrong hands. We will unitedly fight the next election and save the country," CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury said.

"In the history of democracy in the world, 146 MPs have never been suspended... People should know that the democracy is in danger. The protest is to tell the people that whatever is happening is wrong for the future of the country... There is only one solution, people should change this government and bring the INDIA Alliance into power," Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said.

“This government cannot murder the democracy as it is doing now and it cannot rule the country any more. Parliament is ‘superme’ in our democracy and Ambedkar made it clear. He even went on to say ‘Opposition is important for parliament’. But they are killing the opposition, this is fascism. Can we afford this fascist dictatorship? The INDIA bloc should fight together and defeat the BJP. Constitution and democracy must be saved...it is under attack,” CPI's D Raja said.

“The ruling dispensation wants an opposition mukt parliament and a question mukt press. The soul of India is in the ICU. They control Kashmir's normalcy from Delhi but the reality is Kashmir is not okay,” RJD MP Manoj Jha said while addressing the protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

"It was only natural on the part of the opposition to ask for a statement by the home minister... But the government was adamant in not heeding our request. So there were protests within the Parliament. The reaction of the government was to suspend 146 members of the opposition and ram through laws, which have far-reaching consequences on the daily life of people in India... The government wants to have a parliament which would only be a stamping house for all their laws without any discussion... So they want the Parliament to just be like in China or in North Korea... This is a betrayal of the faith people have in the parliamentary system. We want to highlight this and tell them what is happening in parliament is not good for India," Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said.

"We need to save the democracy from those who are currently in power. The BJP must be held accountable for security breach incident in the Parliament," CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said.

Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi arrive at protest site at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

"I want to give a message to the BJP, if you think you can fear us by suspending 140 MPs, they should come here and see our courage. The fight is in our DNA and history. We fought for independence and now we are fighting to save democracy. All we wanted was to raise the security breach in the Parliament. The ruling party boasts about its governance but couldn't issue a statement in the Parliament on the breach. INDIA bloc will stand together and win in the upcoming election," Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said while addressing the protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

“The members of the Parliament are suspended, this is not democracy. 5 or 6 are fine but suspending around 150 members is not democracy. This message should reach the people. How will the Parliament function if all the MPs are out?... There has not been any such violation. An MP has the privilege to put his point forward.” Congress leader Mohammed Azharuddin said.

"We would like to say that the Parliament is the most reputed institution in the country and if we do not get the opportunity to raise issues in the Parliament then where will we go?" Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked after reaching the protest site at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

"There are many ways to protest. So here, we are protesting unitedly," JMM MP Mahua Majhi said after reaching Delhi's Jantar Mantar.