New Delhi: Hours before 14 Members of Parliament were suspended for 'unruly behaviour' for the rest of the Winter Session on Thursday, the opposition INDIA bloc demanded a detailed statement by Home Minister Amit Shah in both Houses followed by a discussion on the issue of security breach that took place in the Lok Sabha.
As many as 13 opposition MPs from different parties were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the remaining period of the Winter Session on Thursday for disrupting House proceedings. Before their suspension, the MPs moved into the Well of the House raising slogans to demand a statement from the government on the Wednesday security breach.
The Lok Sabha MPs suspended included nine from Congress (VK Sreekandan, Benny Behanan, Mohammad Jawed, Manickam Tagore, TN Prathapan, Hibi Eden, Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose), two from CPI-M (PR Natarajan, S Venkatesan), one each from DMK (Kanimozhi Karunanidhi) and one CPI (K. Subbarayan).
In Rajya Sabha, DMK MK Derek O'Brien was also suspended for the rest of the session with Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar citing "unruly behaviour" and "misconduct" as reasons for the disciplinary action.
Communist Party of India’s (CPI) Binoy Viswam who is also a senior leader from the INDIA bloc told ETV Bharat that the unanimous decision to put pressure on the government for a detailed statement was taken during the morning meeting held in Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber. Almost all the opposition leaders from INDIA bloc were present at the meeting.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh in a post on X listed what the INDIA bloc demanded from the government. "The INDIA parties are demanding: 1. A detailed statement by the Home Minister in both Houses, followed by a discussion on the very serious and shocking security breach witnessed in the Lok Sabha yesterday. 2. Strict action against the BJP MP Pratap Simha who provided the visitor passes to the intruders. The Modi government’s refusal to accept these perfectly legitimate and reasonable demands has led to the adjournment of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha today morning," read his post on X.
Taking to ETV Bharat Trinamool Congress MP Dola Sen said that her party wants the expulsion of BJP MP Pratap Simha who provided visitor passes to the intruders. “Apart from a detailed statement from the Home Minister over the security breach, we also demand that Pratap Simha should be expelled,” said Sen who is a Rajya Sabha MP from TMC. Echoing the same view, TMC’s Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that the government can’t see that its own MP issued the visit pass to the intruders. “The BJP government is always ready to take action against opposition MPs, why they are silent when the name of their own MP has been linked with a major incident,” said Dastidar.
Alleging that the BJP-led central government is not at all sincere in providing security to the people, Dastidar said, “We will keep demanding a statement over the security breach issue from the Home Minister and the central government.” When asked about Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankar’s directive to suspend TMC MP Derek O’brein from the remaining part of the winter session, Kakoli said that the “machinery” can’t see that an MP raised an issue against the government.
“When we raise any issue against the government, they treat us like this. This is for the third time, such an action was taken by the chairman,” said Dastidar. Rajya Sabha chairman Dhankar suspended TMC’s Obrein for unruly behaviour in the House.
Also read:
- Parliament Winter Session: 15 MPs suspended for remaining session amid uproar; both houses adjourned for the day
- 'Major security breach but cannot be compared with 2001 attack': Experts on intruders entering Parliament
- Parliament security breach: Shady credentials of fifth accused keep cops on tenterhooks; criminal antecedents baffle officials
