15 Opposition MPs suspended from parliament for disrupting house proceedings

mangaloretoday.com/ndtv

New Delhi, Dec 14, 2023: Fourteen Opposition MPs have been suspended from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha today for disrupting House proceedings, a day after a major security breach in parliament last afternoon.

 

Of the 14 suspended MPs, nine are from the Congress, two from the CPM, one from the CPI, and two from the DMK.

Congress MPs Manickam Tagore, Md Javed, VK Shreekandan, Benny Behanan, DMK MPs K Kanimozhi and SR Parthiban, CPM MPs PR Natarajan and S Venkateshan, and CPI MP K Subbarayan are among the suspended.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for "unruly behaviour" for the rest of this session. However, he refused to leave the House despite being suspended and the matter has been sent to the House’s Privileges Committee after a motion by the BJP’s Piyush Goyal.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP KC Venugopal called the suspension a "horrible, undemocratic move".

"A horrible, undemocratic move to suspend opposition MPs for demanding an answer from the government on the shocking security breach in parliament yesterday. On the one hand, five MPs are suspended for demanding accountability, while on the other, there is no action against the BJP MP who facilitated the entry of the miscreants. This is a murder of democracy. The BJP government has reduced parliament to a rubber stamp. Not even the pretence of a democratic process is left," he wrote on X.

Earlier in the day, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a resolution to suspend five Congress MPs - TN Prathapan, Hibi Eden, Jothimani, Ramya Haridas, and Dean Kuriakose - for the rest of the session, reported news agency PTI.

"I move the following that this House having taken misconduct of TN 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.

B Mahtab was chairing the proceedings.

The Lok Sabha has been adjourned till 11 am tomorrow.

Parliament resumed today amid tensions over a massive security breach a day earlier when two men jumped from the visitors’ gallery into the Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour and burst smoke canisters. The PM was not in Parliament yesterday since he was attending the swearing-in ceremonies of the BJP’s two new chief ministers in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

At least six people were involved in the security scare inside and outside Parliament yesterday. Two men popped smoke canisters inside the House, while a man and a woman burst them outside. All four have been arrested, as have been a man and his wife for sheltering them at their Gurgaon home.

The four inside have been identified as Sagar Sharma, D Manoranjan, Neelam Devi, and Amol Shinde, while the Gurgaon man has been identified as Vicky Sharma. A sixth man is on the run.

The four who deployed smoke canisters have been charged under the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in addition to relevant Sections of the Indian Penal Code. The six currently in custody, including the wife of Vicky Sharma, are being interrogated by Delhi Police’s anti-terror cell.

Meanwhile, the scare forced authorities to tighten security measures in the new parliament, including temporarily banning visitors and restricting non-essential personnel, including the media. Seven Lok Sabha staff have also been suspended following the breach.

The Opposition is up in arms over the incident and has demanded a probe into BJP MP Prathap Simha since the visitors’ passes were issued to the intruders after a request from Mr Simha’s office.

Yesterday’s breach coincided with the 22nd anniversary of the terror strike on the old Parliament building, in which two Pakistan-based groups attacked and killed nine people, including eight security staff.