New Delhi | The confrontation between the government and the Opposition in the Lok Sabha escalated on Tuesday as eight Opposition members of Parliament were suspended for the remainder of the Budget Session, which concludes on April 2, following what the Chair described as unruly conduct.
The suspended MPs include seven members from the Congress and one from the Communist Party of India Marxist. The action was taken after protests erupted when Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi was disallowed for the second consecutive day from quoting an article that referred to excerpts from an unpublished memoir of former Army chief General M M Naravane related to the 2020 India China conflict.
According to the Chair, the MPs attempted to climb onto the table of the Secretary General, tore official papers and hurled them towards the Chair, actions that were deemed a serious breach of parliamentary decorum.
Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi later wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, expressing strong objection to being prevented from speaking on what he described as an issue of national security. In his letter, Gandhi argued that established parliamentary convention allows members to cite documents once they authenticate them and take responsibility for their contents, a requirement he said he had fulfilled.
On Tuesday, as Gandhi rose to speak on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, he authenticated the copy of the article and offered to table it for examination. However, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju maintained that the Speaker had already issued a ruling on the matter and insisted that it should not be repeatedly raised.
As protests continued and several Opposition MPs refused to speak in solidarity with Gandhi, the proceedings were disrupted multiple times. When the House reconvened in the afternoon, eight MPs were formally named by the Chair. Rijiju subsequently moved a resolution seeking their suspension for the remainder of the session, citing disregard for the authority of the House and the Chair.
The resolution was passed by voice vote amid continued uproar, leading to the adjournment of the House for the day.
The suspended MPs are Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, C Kiran Kumar Reddy, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Prashant Padole and Dean Kuriakose from the Congress, and S Venkatesan from the CPI Marxist.
Following the suspension, Congress MPs staged a protest outside the Parliament complex. Several Opposition leaders described the action as an attack on democratic values and accused the ruling party of deliberately preventing the Leader of Opposition from raising uncomfortable questions in the House.
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