Both the Houses of parliament witnessed disruption over the Pegasus spyware issue on Friday too. While the Lok Sabha adjourned before noon without transacting any major businesses, in the Rajya Sabha, Trinamool Congress MP Santanu Sen was suspended for the rest of the Monsoon session for tearing the statement of IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on the spyware controversy.

Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said Sen’s action was an assault on the country’s parliamentary democracy. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muralidharan read out the motion to suspend Sen as the Opposition shouted slogans in protest.

Naidu, in a statement, said the Upper House is meant for meaningful discussions. “The turn of events in the House brings us to the question of what drives the disruptions in Parliament? Is it only political grandstanding,” he asked.

‘Voice vote’

The motion moved by Muralidharan was passed in a voice vote and Naidu asked Sen to leave the House. “The motion is approved...Dr Santanu Sen stands suspended for the remaining part of the session...Santanu Sen, you have to withdraw from the house,” Naidu said.

Sen, however, did not budge, resulting in repeated adjournments.

Naidu said despite agreements in Business Advisory Committee meetings for discussions, the proceedings of the House hit a new low with the papers being snatched from the Minister and torn into pieces and thrown in the air. “Such actions are a clear assault on our parliamentary democracy. They do not cover the world’s largest democracy with glory. Should the members of Parliament be a party to degrading the country’s standing in the world stage,” he asked.

“No chance to respond”

TMC MP Sukhendu Sekhar Ray raised objections and said the motion is not part of the list of the business. “We did not have any opportunity to react to that. We were quite unaware that the government is moving such a motion. It was not included in the list,” he said. Lok Sabha also witnessed similar scenes over the issue forcing adjournment for the day at around 12 pm.

Meanwhile, the Opposition sharpened its attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah over the issue. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the only word to describe the decision to use Pegasus for political purposes is “treason”. Gandhi demanded a Supreme Court probe into the matter and said Home Minister Amit Shah must immediately resign.

Talking to reporters here on Friday, Gandhi said Pegasus is classified by the Israeli State as a weapon to be used against terrorists. “The Prime Minister and the Home Minister have used this weapon against the Indian State and against our institutions. They have used it politically in Karnataka. They have used it to scuttle probes. They have used it against Supreme Court and all the other institutions,” he said.

‘Supreme Court probe’

He charged that the only word for such actions is “treason”. “There’s no other word against this. This has to be investigated and the Home Minister must resign,” he claimed. When asked about reports of his phone being tapped, the Wayanad MP said it is not an issue of his privacy. “It is an attack on the voice of people. They used Pegasus to scuttle probe against Rafael,” he alleged and demanded a Supreme Court probe on the Prime Minister. “Only the Prime Minister and Home Minister can authorise the use of Pegasus,” he said.

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