Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 26: After suspending for the remainder of the current monsoon session four Congress members of the Lok Sabha on Monday for displaying placards in the House demanding a discussion on price rise, 19 opposition members of the Rajya Sabha were on Tuesday suspended for the rest of the week for disrupting the proceedings by raising slogans for a similar demand.
“The decision to suspend opposition MPs from Rajya Sabha was taken with a heavy heart. They kept on ignoring the Chairman’s appeals,” BJP’s Piyush Goyal said. “The government is ready for a debate on price rise once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recovers and returns to parliament,” said Goyal, leader of the house in Rajya Sabha.
The latest round of suspension comes a day after four Congress MPs in Lok Sabha were dealt with similar action for the entire monsoon session, ending August 12, for holding placards inside the house despite warnings by Speaker Om Birla “to behave.”
The house was adjourned for an hour on Tuesday after the suspended opposition MPs did not leave and continued to protest. The action against the 19 Rajya Sabha MPs would likely escalate the opposition’s fury against the government over what they claim was an attempt to shut voices that question the ruling alliance’s economic and social policies.
“This government has suspended democracy,” Trinamool leader Derek O’Brien told reporters after the suspension of 19 opposition members.
The suspended MPs included TMC members Dola Sen, Sushmita Dev, Nadimul Haque, Mausam Noor, Santunu Sen, Shanta Chhetri, Abir Ranjan Biswas, DMK’s M.H. Abdulla, R. Girirajan, N.R. Elango, S. Kalyanasundaram, M. Shanmugam and Kanimozhi NVN Somu, TRS MPs Damodar Rao and B.L. Yadav, CPI(M)‘s V. Sivadasan and A.A. Rahim, and CPI’s P. Santosh Kumar.
Opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha have been demanding an urgent discussion on issues like price rise and goods and services tax, or GST, hike for the past many days, leading to disruptions in the house.
The opposition is demanding that the discussions be held under Rule 267 (Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha). Under this rule, the issue being raised is taken up by suspending the listed business of the day.
“You can suspend us but you cannot silence us. Deplorable situation – our hon’ble MPs are trying to flag people’s issues but they are being suspended. For how long will this go on? The sanctity of the parliament stands heavily compromised,” the Trinamool Congress tweeted.
The morning sessions of both Houses were washed out due to sloganeering by the Opposition demanding a debate on GST and inflation.
