Fourteen MPs, including 13 from the Lok Sabha, were suspended from the remaining winter session on Thursday for disrupting proceedings in both the Houses. The MPs were demanding a statement from the government on serious security breach a day before.
TMC MP Derek O’Brien was suspended from Rajya Sabha on a resolution moved by Union Minister Piyush Goel against his “gross misconduct”, “unruly behaviour” and “defiance of the Chair” during the proceedings which adversely affected transaction of business in the House.
Motion passed
Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar also passed a motion, referring Derek O’Brien’s conduct of “indiscipline and defiance” to the Privileges Committee for examination and sought a report within three months. Despite expressing displeasure against Derek, he remained in the House which irked the Rajya Sabha chairman further. Outside the Upper House, Derek wore a placard that had “silent protest” inscribed on it.
In Lok Sabha, Fourteen opposition members -- nine from the Congress, two each from the DMK and CPM, and one from CPI were suspended for the rest of the session as they demanded a statement from PM Modi and Amit Shah on the parliamentary security breach in which two of the six accused jumped from visitors’ gallery into Lok Sabha chamber when the session was in progress on Wednesday afternoon. But, later it turned out that one of the DMK MP whose name figured in the suspension resolution was not present in the House.
Speaker OM Birla took action on two resolutions moved by parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi who was prompted by opposition members walking into the well creating a ruckus which led to the first adjournment during the question hour followed by another adjournment till 2 pm.
“I move the following that this House having taken misconduct of T N Prathapan, Hibi Eden, Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose 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.
The House was then adjourned till 3 pm after five MPs were shown the door. As the LS re-assembled, the parliamentary affairs minister moved the second resolution for suspension of VK Sreekandan, Benny Behanan, Mohammad Jawed, PR Natarajan, Kanimozhi, K Subbarayan, SR Parthiban, S Venkatesan, and Manickam Tagore.
SR Parthiban Puzzle
Later, Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram tweeted that DMK’s SR Parthiban was suspended despite the fact that he was not present in the House. “There is comedy in this suspension, S R Parthiben has been named in the list, he wasn’t even in the LS today. I guess they can’t make out one Tamilan from another:),” he posted on X. However, SR Parthiban’s name was later removed from the list of suspended MPs.
Reacting to her suspension, DMK’s Kanimozhi wondered why no action has been taken against BJP MP Pratap Simha whose official letterhead was used by six accused intruders to legally gain access to parliament building.
“There is an MP who has given the passes for these (accused of Parliament security breach) people to come in. No action has been taken against that MP. Whereas we saw what happened in Mahua’s case. Without even the inquiry being complete, she has been disqualified and this MP is not even suspended. He’s inside Parliament with us. And when we protested and we want the PM and the Home Minister to come and give a statement in the House, they’re not prepared to do that. And when we protested, they are suspending all the opposition MPs. First suspended five, then they suspended nine people. So how is this democracy?...,” she remarked.
In a combined address to media by opposition MPs, RJD member from RS Manoj Jha vowed to seek government accountability and said, “It’s not just a parliament issue but of security. A government which can’t keep its parliament secure, can’t keep the country safe”. He reiterated that “mark my words, the country is not safe in your hands” and questioned government’s stand of not giving statement before the House even though 24 hours have lapsed after the security breach took place.