As the Winter Session of the Parliament began on Monday, November 29, the Rajya Sabha suspended 12 Members of Parliament for the entire session for “creating ruckus in the house” during the Monsoon Session of the Parliament on August 11. The suspended MPs are from the Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI, CPI(M) and Shiv Sena parties. The 12 MPs were suspended from the Monsoon session, and were reportedly pulled up again for remaining a part of the current session.
The members who were suspended include Syed Naseer Hussain, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora and Rajmani Patel of the Congress party, Priyanka Chaturvedi and Anil Desai of the Shiv Sena, Elamaram Kareem of the CPI(M), Binoy Viswam of the CPI and Dola Sen and Shanta Chhetri of the Trinamool Congress.
Congress MP Chayya Verma has condemned the suspension. “This suspension is simply unfair and unjust. 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,” she told mediapersons.
In the morning, the Rajya Sabha chairman indicated that he was unhappy over the affairs of the house in the previous session. Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu, who is also the Vice-President of India, stated that disruptions and unruly conduct of some members during the last Monsoon Session continue to haunt all. He urged the members to draw the right lessons from it as all sections of the House and the country ended up as losers from the derailed Monsoon Session. Earlier, Naidu had broken down while addressing the ruckus at the Upper House during the Monsoon Session, saying that the “sanctity of the House had been breached”.
Naidu referred to the turn of events during the closing moments of the last Monsoon Session and noted that responses of the leading lights of the House and all concerned were not up to his expectations. Referring to the highs and lows witnessed during the last 11 sessions presided by him over the last four years, the Rajya Sabha Chairman urged the members to create "democratic and parliamentary space" in the House so that all issues can be taken up.