Fifteen opposition MPs of the Parliament were suspended on Thursday, December 14, by the Speaker for unruly behaviour. Chaos ensued in the House after the Opposition raised concerns about the breach of security at the Parliament the previous day, and demanded a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah, leading to the suspensions.
Among the 15 suspended MPs (14 from Lok Sabha and one from Rajya Sabha), nine are from the Congress, two from the CPIM, two from the DMK, one from the CPI and one from the Trinamool Congress (TMC). The Lok Sabha witnessed several protests by the Opposition over the security breach on December 13. Before adjourning the session at 2 pm, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion against Congress MPs Jothimani, Hibi Eden, TN Prathapan, Kumari Ramya Haridas, and Dean Kuriyakose accusing them of utter disregard to the House and wanted the members to be suspended for the service of the House for the remainder of the session under Rule 374 (2). The motion was adopted by voice vote.
Soon after the House reassembled at 3 pm, the Opposition members once again raised slogans demanding the presence of the Prime Minister in the House. This is when Pralhad Joshi moved the resolution to suspend Opposition MPs Benny Behanan, VK Sreekandan, Mohammad Jawed, PR Natarajan, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, K Subrahmanyam, SR Parthiban, S Venkatesan, and Manickam Tagore for gross misconduct. Via voice vote, the motion is passed. The Lower House is adjourned for the day and will resume on Friday, December 15, at 11 am.
The DMK said that MP Parthiban was not even attending the session, but was still suspended.
“The Speaker also observed this morning that in the future further measures will be taken to strengthen security. In my opinion, this matter concerns all and we need to speak in one voice on such a grave issue. No politics is expected to be done by anyone on such issues,” Joshi said.
He urged that everyone should rise above party politics. “In the past also many such incidents have taken place. I am not comparing the past incidents and not defending today's incident to bring a bright future.” He cited the example of April 11, 1974, when a person named Ratan Chandra Gupta shouted slogans while carrying two pistols in the House.
He also cited several other incidents of security breaches in the Lok Sabha amid sloganeering by the Opposition members, who kept on raising slogans ‘Pradhan Mantri sadan me aao’.
Meanwhile, the suspended MPs started a protest inside the Parliament.
At 4 pm, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asked TMC spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien to leave the House in compliance with the order passed earlier. According to Dhankhar, O'Brien staying put in the House was a serious violation and a wilful defiance of the order.
Following the remarks by the Chairman, Leader of the House Piyush Goyal moved a resolution under Rule 192 to refer the issue to the Committee of Privileges of the Rajya Sabha. Rajya Sabha then passed a motion against the suspended MP, referring O'Brien’s conduct to the Committee of Privileges for examination and investigation with a report to be submitted within three months.
It was immediately taken up by the Chairman and passed by a voice vote. "The motion is adopted. The matter stands referred to the Committee of Privileges of the Rajya Sabha for examination, investigation and report within a period of three months," Dhankhar said.
He again urged O'Brien to leave the House, but the latter did not oblige. However, O'Brien staged a silent protest in the Parliament over his suspension for the remainder of the Winter Session.
(with inputs from IANS)