NEW DELHI: The second day of the Winter Session of Parliament on Tuesday is expected to be stormy with the Opposition and the Centre on a collision course over the suspension of 12 Rajya Sabha members.
Six MPs from the Congress, two each from Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from the CPI and CPM were suspended on Monday for the rest of the session for their ‘unruly’ conduct in the previous session in August.
Slamming the government for bringing a motion that led to the suspensions, they alleged the action violates all rules and procedures of the Upper House.
The MPs suspended under Rule 256 are: Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, Ripun Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain and Akhilesh Prasad Singh of the Congress; Dola Sen and Shanta Chhetri of the TMC; Priyanka Chaturvedi and Anil Desai of the Shiv Sena; the CPM’s Elamaram Kareem and CPI’s Binoy Viswam.
As soon as Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi moved the motion to suspend the MPs, Opposition members rose to protest the move, which led to the House being suspended for the day.
Calling the suspension — the biggest in the history of the Rajya Sabha — unfortunate and unwarranted, a joint statement issued by 14 opposition parties said their floor leaders will meet on Tuesday to discuss future strategy “to resist authoritarian decisions of the government and defend parliamentary democracy”. The TMC was not a signatory to the statement.
According to sources, the suspended MPs will meet Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu and apologise for their behaviour.
If the suspension is not revoked, the Opposition may boycott the House on Tuesday.
The suspended MPs termed the action against them “murder of democracy” saying they were only raising people’s voice in the House.
"If speaking for farmers, against privatisation that goes against people, sells family silver for 'sarkari' PR calls for suspension, then I ask: how weak are you to not be able to answer on basis of parliamentary democracy? Will continue to speak for people inside and outside the parliament. Even the rules don't permit carrying forward taking action from one session to another. Rule 256," said an agitated Chaturvedi.
“We were not even called to explain our stand,” she said.
This is the first time that 12 MPs have been suspended in one go in the Rajya Sabha for the remainder of the session under Rule 256 for unruly behaviour.
"The leaders of the opposition parties unitedly condemn the unwarranted and undemocratic suspension of 12 members in violation of all the Rules of Procedure of Rajya Sabha pertaining to suspension of members for the entire duration of the Winter Session," a joint statement signed by leaders of the 12 opposition parties said.
"The motion moved by the government for suspending the members in regard to the unfortunate incident that occurred in the previous session is unprecedented and violates the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha)," it said.
Congress MP Ripun Bora said it is their constitutional right to raise issues of public importance and asked what was wrong in raising the concerns of farmers.
He said it is the duty of the chairman and the government to run the House.
"This is totally undemocratic and amounts to dictatorship on the part of the government in suspending the MPs four months after the session. This is the murder of democracy," he told PTI.
"We have not been allowed to be heard. The government has decided to take action against opposition MPs at its own whim," Bora said, adding that if the prime minister has apologised and taken back the farm laws, what is their offence in raising the concerns of farmers.
Accusing the BJP government of indulging in "dictatorship", TMC's Sen alleged that it was "attacking the Constitution and democracy".
Another TMC MP Shanta Chhetri said they were "suspended for protecting the interests of farmers and the interests of the country".
The last day of the Monsoon Session had witnessed chaotic scenes with marshals being called in as Opposition members protested over various issues and demanded a discussion on the farmers' agitation and the Pegasus snooping row among other matters.
The entire Monsoon session was washed out due to the opposition protests.
The government had accused the Opposition of not only creating unruly scenes in the well of the House but also accused some of them of manhandling a woman marshal in the House.
(With PTI Inputs)