At least 33 Opposition Members of Parliament were suspended from the Lok Sabha for protesting and demanding Home Minister Amit Shah's address over the recent Parliament security breach, on Monday, 18 December. Moreover, 45 opposition MPs have been suspended from the Rajya Sabha.
The suspended Lok Sabha MPs include Congress leader in the House Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, DMK MPs T R Baalu and Dayanidhi Maran, and TMC's Saugata Roy.
This comes four days after 13 MPs were suspended from the lower house. This brings the total number suspended Lok Sabha MPs to 46.
List of suspended Lok Sabha MPs.
List of suspended Rajya Sabha MPs.
Speaking to media, Piyush Goyal, leader of the house in the Rajya Sabha, said that the case of 11 MPs has been referred to the Privilege Committee. "34 MPs have been suspended. The case of 11 MPs has been referred to the Privilege Committee. A total of 45 Rajya Sabha MPs have been suspended today. They did not want the House to run smoothly, this was their pre-planned strategy," Goyal said.
'They Want To Pass Laws Without Opposition MPs In The House': Congress
Reacting to the suspension of MPs, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on X, “First, intruders attacked Parliament. Then Modi Govt attacking Parliament & Democracy. All Democratic norms are being thrown into the dustbin by an autocratic Modi Govt by suspending 47 MPs.”
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha said that the opposition parties had been demanding that the home minister speak on the parliament security breach which took place last week.
“For the last several days, we have been demanding that the suspension of our MPs be revoked and that Home Minister issues a statement in the House," Chowdhury said.
Gaurav Gogoi, deputy leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, said that the suspension is equivalent to “bulldozing the opposition” in the house.
“They are bulldozing the opposition and crushing the moral rights of people in the House. It makes evident that they don't have the intention to run the House," Gogoi told PTI.
K Suresh, the Congress’ chief whip of said that the idea behind suspending so many MPs is to be able to pass legislations without resistance.
“They are going to suspend all Opposition leaders...They don't want Opposition Members in Lok Sabha...Without Opposition MPs, they have to pass very important legislations...That is why, they are doing this,” Suresh said.
'Masterstroke In Silencing Dissent': TMC
The TMC called the move a “masterstroke in silencing dissent.”
The TMC's official handle posted on X: “With over 46 MPs suspended from the Lok Sabha, the supposed sanctum of India’s democracy, we can only assume that @BJP4India and HM @AmitShah are finally settling into their comfort zones in Parliament. A masterstroke in silencing dissent, HM @AmitShah can now effortlessly and comfortably make a statement. Quite the strategic move, isn't it?”
'Opposition Behaved Indecently': BJP
The BJP leaders, however, defended the suspension, saying that it was the opposition which was guilty of disrupting the house.
“Opposition wants to disturb the proceedings of the house and that will not be appreciated by the people. The government has already taken the security breach incident seriously and the Lok Sabha Speaker also took all the necessary steps. What else does the Opposition want?" said BJP leader Prakash Jadvekar.
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy too defended the move.
“The opposition behaved indecently today. The opposition is feeling insecure because they have no agenda or issue against PM Modi's government and they are not letting the House function. So the Speaker has suspended them and we have supported it,” Reddy told ANI.
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