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New Delhi: Adding to the shock surrounding the suspension of 79 Opposition MPs from Parliament in a single day, 49 members including Shashi Tharoor, Farooq Abdullah have been suspended from the Lok Sabha for the rest of the winter session for displaying placards and raising slogans demanding a reply from the Home Minister on the December 13 Parliament security breach case. This takes the total number of suspended MPs in this session to 141, which is the highest number so far.
The suspension, largest in the history of the Indian Parliament, was a response to the disruption by MPs demanding a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the security breach in Parliament. The move was described as ‘despotic’ by Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, who expressed concern over the suppression of debate and dissent in Parliament.
MPs including Supriya Sule, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, Md Faisal, Karti Chidambaram, Sudip Bandhopadhyay, Dimple Yadav and Danish Ali have been suspended.
On Monday, Lok Sabha suspended 33 opposition members, including the leader of the Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, DMK’s T R Baalu and Sougata Ray of the Trinamool Congress, from the House for displaying placards and raising slogans over the Parliament security breach issue. A total of 141 MPs have been suspended till now over the issue.
Opposition leaders have strongly condemned the mass suspensions, accusing the ruling BJP of “murdering democracy” by suppressing dissent and stifling parliamentary discourse.
Adding to the political turmoil, those MPs from the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) who escaped suspension are now expected to boycott the session. This reaction underlines the growing tension between the ruling party and the opposition. The opposition is likely to focus on the Parliament security breach incident, with Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari submitting an adjournment motion notice to discuss the matter.
Amidst this unrest, the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting held at the Parliament Library Building in Delhi is being seen as a turning point in the ongoing winter session. The meeting was attended by prominent personalities including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president JP Nadda and Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav. The BJP has been accused of being dictatorial and suppressing the voices of MPs by suspending them from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, further intensifying the political fight.
