Parliament standoff: Protests rock both Houses, 141 Opposition MPs under suspension
New Delhi: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday suspended another batch of 49 Opposition MPs as both the government and the Opposition hardened their stances, leading to an unprecedented situation in Parliament. After Tuesday's suspension, the total number of Opposition members suspended during the Winter Session of Parliament now stands at 141 — 95 members from the Lok Sabha and 46 Rajya Sabha MPs.
After the latest suspension, the I.N.D.I.A. bloc has lost more than two-thirds of its strength in the Lok Sabha for the duration of the Winter Session.
The I.N.D.I.A. bloc parties had a strength of 138 in the Lok Sabha, of which 43 MPs are now left in the House. Only nine MPs of the principal Opposition party Congress, including former party presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, are left in the House.
The opposition alliance at its meet elsewhere announced countrywide protests on December 22 against the suspension of its MPs.
Congress' floor leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Trinamul Congress' floor leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay in Lok Sabha are among those suspended. So far, 13 of the 22 Trinamul Congress MPs have been suspended. From the DMK, which has a strength of 24 members in the Lower House, 16 MPs have been suspended.
The National Conference's Farooq Abdullah, Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Karti Chidambaram and Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav are among those who were suspended for "misconduct" on Tuesday as they demanded a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the Parliament security breach.
Supriya Sule of the NCP, S. Jagathrakshakan and D.N.V. Senthil Kumar of the DMK, Giridhari Yadav of the JD(U), Danish Ali, who has been suspended from the BSP, and Sushil Kumar Rinku of the AAP are among other MPs suspended from the Lok Sabha.
Shah attended the Lok Sabha in the post-lunch session as the House took up discussion on the new three criminal laws after the suspension of 49 Opposition MPs. He is expected to give a reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday to the discussion on these bills.
The Congress alleged that a "complete purge" is being executed so that "draconian bills" are passed without any meaningful debate and the BJP MP "who facilitated entry of the two intruders" into the Lok Sabha on December 13 goes scot-free.
"It is clear that they want an Opposition-mukt Lok Sabha and they will do something similar in the Rajya Sabha. At this point, unfortunately, we have to start writing obituaries for parliamentary democracy in India," said Congress MP Tharoor.
Abdullah asked what would have happened if the Union home minister had made a statement in Parliament on the security breach.
Earlier in the day, as soon as the Lok Sabha session started, the Opposition members were on their feet; some even entered the Well of the House shouting slogans against the government and holding placards. Some MPs were carrying a morphed picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the whole House condemned the display of a morphed picture of the Prime Minister and demanded action against the MPs carrying it.
Speaker Om Birla said it was completely against the rules to bring placards into the House. "This House belongs to you. We have all decided that no one will bring placards inside the House. But you have come here with placards. Even you have come to the podium. Is this correct? Please go back to your seat. I am giving you a last warning," he said. However, the Opposition members ignored Birla's pleas and continued their protests leading to the adjournment of the proceedings.
When the House met again at 12.30 pm, minister of state for parliamentary affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal brought the motion to suspend the Opposition members.
With most of the Opposition member's seats vacant, the Lok Sabha passed the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill 2023; the Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill 2023 in the post-lunch session.
The two rows of benches on the Opposition side were nearly empty, with only two MPs sitting, including Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and Simranjit Singh Mann. Mann kept shouting towards the chair: "You are not being democratic. Mr Speaker, you are running the House with no Opposition."
As the House took up to pass the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) bill through a voice vote, Mann said, "As there is no opposition, who would say no?"
Some of the members of the BJD, BSP, YSRCP and Akali Dal (Badal) were present during this period. After this, the Lok Sabha took up discussion and passed the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita 2023, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill 2023.
The Rajya Sabha also witnessed several disruptions on Tuesday as the Opposition members continued to create uproar in the House over the Parliament security breach issue.
