New Delhi [India], November 29 (ANI): Rajya Sabha on the first day of its business for the Winter Session on Monday suspended 12 of its members for the rest of the current session on account of ‘unruly and violent behavior’ during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. The suspended MPs include six from Congress, two each from TMC and Shiv Sena, and one each from CPM and CPI.
The action has been taken against them for the ‘indiscipline’ in the monsoon session of the house. The suspended MPs are Elamaram Kareem (CPM), Paulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, R Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of the Congress, Binoy Viswam of CPI, Dola Sen and Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Anil Desai of Shiv Sena.
The suspension notice issued of the first day of the Winter Session read, “That this House takes cognizance and strongly condemns the utter disregard to the authority of the Chai, complete abuse of rules of the House persistently thereby wilfully obstructing the business of House through their unprecedented acts of misconduct, contemptuous, unruly and violent behavior and intentional attacks on security personnel on the last day of 254th Session of Rajya Sabha (Monsoon Session) i.e, August 11 thereby lowering the dignity of and bringing disrepute to the August House by the following members and resolves, for above compelling reasons, to suspend these members from the service of the House for the remainder of the 255th session under rule 256 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha.”
Reacting to the suspension, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi said, “From District Court to Supreme Court, an accused is heard even there, lawyers are provided for them too, sometimes government officials are sent to take their version. Here our version was not taken.”
“If you see the CCTV footage it has been recorded how male marshals were jostling female MPs. All of this on one side and your decision on the other? What kind of unparliamentary behavior is this?” she added.
Congress’ Chhaya Verma termed the suspension “unfair and unjust” and said, “There were other members from other parties who created a ruckus but the chairman suspended me. PM Modi is doing just as he wishes since he enjoys a brute majority.”
Congress MP Ripun Bora called the suspension “undemocratic”. “We have not been given the opportunity to be heard. This is a one-sided, biased, vindictive decision. Opposition parties have not been consulted,” he said.
“Yes, we had protested in the last session. We had protested for the cause of farmers, the poor people and as Parliamentarians, it is our duty to raise the voices of the oppressed, deprived. If we don’t raise the voices in Parliament, where will we do that?” he added.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed ruckus on Monday, with sloganeering by Opposition MPs. They were demanding a discussion on the Bill to repeal the three farm laws. Meanwhile, the ‘Farm Laws Repeal Bill 2021’ was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday.
In an address to the nation on November 19, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repealing of the three Central farm laws on the day of Guru Nanak Jayanti. The bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet last week. The winter session of Parliament is scheduled to conclude on December 23.
Suspension of 12 MPs in Rajya Sabha is ‘anti-democratic’, says Kharge
Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday termed the suspension of 12 MPs for the remaining part of the winter session as an “anti-democratic” step. He said the motion for action against the 12 MPs was “against rules”.
“This is an anti-democratic step. This autocratic government has done this to create fear among MPs. Moving of resolution for action against 12 MPs is illegal, wrong and against rules. Incident had occurred in the last session, action should have been taken in the last session,” Kharge said. “We (Leaders of Opposition parties) are meeting tomorrow to discuss the future course of action. If the voices of those who raise voices for others are suppressed, it is like strangulating the democracy. We condemn it, all parties condemn it,” he added.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal alleged the Centre for conspiring not to let the Parliament work. “They knew that the suspension will result in the protest by the opposition and, therefore, the Parliament will not run which is what they want. The government does not want to discuss laws,” Sibal said. The suspended MPs include six from Congress, two each from TMC and Shiv Sena and one each from CPM and CPI.
The action has been taken against them for the ‘indiscipline’ in the monsoon session of the house. The suspended MPs are Elamaram Kareem (CPM), Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, R Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of the Congress, Binoy Viswam of CPI, Dola Sen and Shanta Chhetri of Trinamool Congress, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Anil Desai of Shiv Sena.
MPs are suspended as their heights of irresponsibility, indiscipline couldn’t be tolerated: Pralhad Joshi
Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi on Monday said that the Opposition was “insolent” during the Monsoon Session of the Parliament and stated that the government was bound to suspend them as their heights of irresponsibility and indiscipline couldn’t be tolerated.
Speaking to ANI Joshi said, “12 MPs have been suspended from the Rajya Sabha today because of very unfortunate incidents that happened during the Monsoon session.” “Opposition was insolent, they didn’t let the PM introduce the ministers even, at the start of the Monsoon Session. Dola Sen (TMC MP) placed a hanging loop on Shanta Chettri’s (TMC MP) neck. They blew whistles, behaved inappropriately, and climbed on top of tables,” the Minister said.
“Arpita Ghosh (TMC), who resigned recently, tried to break glass and enter, leading to an injury of a female worker. Whenever we questioned this, Congress, TMC, or CPI(M) promised it won’t happen again. Once even the Chairman cried, still we managed to talk it out,” he said.
“This happened again on the last day, but we couldn’t take any action, which is why we decided to put forth a proposal to take action in this session against those who behaved inappropriately. Their heights of irresponsibility and indiscipline couldn’t be tolerated,” he said.
“Piyush Goyal and I repeatedly requested them that we are ready to close this chapter if they express regret and say this won’t happen again in front of the chamber, but they still denied it. We didn’t want this, but keeping the chamber’s dignity, we had no other option,” he added.
