The protest being staged on the Parliament premises by Opposition MPs, who were suspended from the proceedings of the Monsoon Session, is set to cross the 50-hour mark. The overnight demonstration continued on the morning of Thursday, 28 July.
The day-night relay protest is being staged at the Gandhi Statue on the Parliament premises. MPs of the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, and Trinamool Congress were among those who were seen taking turns to participate in the sit-in demonstration.
"Congress, DMK, TMC, CPM & AAP MPs from both Houses on 50 hour continous dharna by turns in Parliament precincts. They are protesting their suspension for demanding URGENT debate on price rise and GST on food items," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said wrote on Twitter.
In a video shot from the site, Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore, who was among the Congress leaders at the protest, said, "It's now 10 o' clock. We are there with the MPs. We are going to fight the Modi-Amit Shah onslaught on democracy. All four Lok Sabha MPs are standing in solidarity with RS MP and are sitting in batches."
Twenty Rajya Sabha MPs from the Opposition – seven from the Trinamool, six from the DMK, three from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), two from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and one each from the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the AAP – were suspended from the proceedings of Parliament for the week on Tuesday.
Four Lok Sabha MPs of the Congress were suspended the previous day. The parliamentarians were suspended for disrupting proceedings in Lok Sabha and their "unruly behaviour."
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi said on Wednesday that the suspension of the MPs could be revoked if they apologised to the Chair.
'Demand Revocation of Suspension': AAP, TMC MPs Protest at Parliament
Suspended Rajya Sabha MP and AAP leader Sanjay Singh, who also attended the overnight protest, said, "When I raised the issue of 55 deaths due to poisonous liquor in Gujarat in Rajya Sabha, I was suspended. As long as I am suspended, I will continue to protest in front of Gandhi statue in Parliament complex. I appeal to all of you to raise your voice on this issue."
Singh was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the remaining part of the current week for raising slogans, tearing papers, and throwing them towards the Chair of the House on Tuesday.
"We demand that the suspension of MPs BE IMMEDIATELY REVOKED. A discussion on price hike and GST must be PRIORITISED. Our protest continues," the TMC tweeted.
"We'll not apologize as we haven't done anything wrong. We've raised the issue of common people," TMC MP Shanta Chhetri was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. The party's Dola Sen could be seen participating in the protest.
Since the Parliament session began last week, both Houses have suffered frequent adjournments over Opposition protests against inflation, hike in GST prices, and suspension of Congress MPs, demanding a discussion on price hikes in the Houses.
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