14 Opposition MPs suspended from Lok Sabha for remainder of Winter Session over ‘disruptions’-

[ad_1]

By Online Desk

14 MPs from various Opposition parties have been suspended from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the Winter Session after being named by the Speaker for disrupting House proceedings.

Amid demands from the opposition for a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the security breach in Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved two resolutions on separate occasions for the suspension of the MPs.

The day saw opposition leaders vehemently voice their concerns over the significant security lapse which saw two people jump into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors’ gallery on Wednesday, shout slogans and release coloured smoke from canisters that triggered panic and chaos in the House.

Before their suspension, the MPs moved into the Well of the House raising slogans to demand a statement from the government on Wednesday’s security breach. The opposition lawmakers were fervently chanting ‘PM sadan me aao, Amit Shah sharam karo’ in unison, leading to the disruption of House proceedings.

ALSO READ | TMC’s Derek O’Brien suspended from RS for remainder of Winter Session

However, Speaker Om Birla said that the security of the Parliament complex is the responsibility of the Lok Sabha Secretariat. “It is our jurisdiction,” he asserted.

While the Opposition continued to raise slogans during the Question Hour, Union Minister Rajnath Singh told the House that there was no need to create disturbance. “Everyone has condemned it. In the old building too, incidents of throwing paper and jumping have taken place. All MPs need to be careful and we should not give passes to those who create disturbances,” he said.

The House witnessed the first adjournment during the question hour when it was adjourned till 2 pm amid the opposition’s uproar. At 2 pm, Joshi read a statement on behalf of the government and said the internal security in Parliament comes under the purview of the Speaker. He then moved a resolution amid the din to suspend five MPs, all from the Congress.

“I move the following that this House having taken misconduct of T N Prathapan, Hibi Eden, Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose Kuryakus in utter disregard to the House and the authority of this Chair and having been named by the chair…to be suspended from the service of the House for reminder session,” the resolution read.

The House was then adjourned till 3 pm.

As soon as the House met at 3 pm, Joshi moved a second resolution suspending nine more MPs from various Opposition parties for disrupting House proceedings.

Joshi moved the resolution to suspend VK Sreekandan (Congress), Benny Behanan (Congress), Mohammad Jawed (Congress), PR Natarajan (CPI-M), Kanimozhi (DMK), K.Subbarayan (CPI), SR Parthiban (DMK), S Venkatesan (CPI-M) and Manickam Tagore, Congress’ Whip in the lower House.

An MP claimed later that Prathiban was named among the suspended MPs even though he is not present in Delhi and is in Chennai. After the second resolution was passed, the House was adjourned to meet again on Friday.

ALSO READ | Parl minister issues statement, asks opposition ‘not to politicise’ security breach

In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack on Wednesday, two persons—Sagar Sharma and Manoranjan D—jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow gas from canisters and shouted slogans before being overpowered by the MPs.

‘Suspensions done to hide govt’s failures’

Reacting to her suspension, DMK MP Kanimozhi said: “We want the PM and the Home Minister to come and give a statement in the House, they’re not prepared to do that. And when we protested, they are suspending all the opposition MPs. First suspended five, then they suspended nine people. So how is this democracy?”

She also questioned why no action has been taken against BJP MP Pratap Simha, who is under scrutiny for providing Parliament passes to the accused in the security breach.

“There is an MP who has actually given the passes for these (accused of Parliament security breach) people to come in. No action has been taken against that MP. Whereas we saw what happened in Mahua’s case. Without even the inquiry being complete, she has been disqualified and this MP is not even suspended. He’s inside Parliament with us,” Kanimozhi said.

Terming the security breach a “colossal security and intelligence failure” Congress MP Karti Chidambaram said: “…Just because we demanded and protested, in order to stifle our voice, about 15 odd MPs have been suspended for the remaining of the session. We want the government to come and inform the House on what happened yesterday and what are the steps that they are taking.”

JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh said the suspensions were done to “hide the government’s failures.”

“They want to scare the Opposition. You can’t govern by creating fear…They can suspend, they have the majority and can do whatever they want…You would have seen their conduct had the two men who entered the Parliament yesterday been Muslims or had it been a Congress MP who issued them passes,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal called the suspensions “shocking” and questioned the Centre’s “culture” of not letting opposition members voice their opinions in the House.

“It is shocking and this is the culture that they have developed in this. The moment you oppose something – they don’t allow you to speak. If you say something, they will say nothing that you are saying is going on record. So what’s the point of being a member of Parliament and participating in our discussion? You should have a healthy discussion in the House. We used to have it,” he said.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI) Follow channel on WhatsApp