Seven Congress, one CPI(M) member suspended for unruly behaviour
NEW DELHI, Feb 3: The government-opposition faceoff in the Lok Sabha intensified on Tuesday as eight protesting MPs were suspended for “unruly behaviour” after Rahul Gandhi was disallowed for the second day from quoting an article that cited an unpublished “memoir” of former Army chief MM Naravane on the 2020 India-China conflict.
The seven MPs from the Congress and one from the CPI(M) were suspended for the remainder of the Budget session, which ends on April 2, for trying to climb on the table of the secretary general, tearing papers and hurling them at the Chair.
Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, lodging his strong protest over being disallowed from speaking in the House on a matter of national security and terming it a “blot on our democracy”. He also said that it was for the first time in history that LoP was not allowed to speak on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address.
In his letter to Birla, Gandhi noted that as convention, including repeated rulings of past Speakers, a member wishing to refer to a document in the House is required to authenticate it and affirm responsibility for its contents, which he did.
As soon as Gandhi was asked to speak on the Motion of Thanks on Tuesday, he cited the Speaker’s ruling of Monday and authenticated the copy of the article. “I have authenticated it,” he said.
To authenticate a document, a member has to submit a signed copy of it, affirming that it is correct to the best of his knowledge.
Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the Chair, asked him to table it and said, “We will examine it and get back”.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Speaker passed a ruling on the matter and after that Gandhi should not raise the issue repeatedly.
However, with Gandhi insisting on raising the matter, Tenneti moved on to other Speakers and asked Harish Balayogi of the TDP, an NDA constituent, to give his speech on the President’s address after three opposition MPs refused to speak, showing solidarity with Gandhi.
As Balayogi spoke, opposition MPs raised slogans and the ruckus continued in the House, prompting the chair to adjourn it till 3 PM.
When the House met at 3 pm following multiple adjournments, Dilip Saikia, who was in the Chair, named the eight Congress members.
Subsequently, Rijiju read out a resolution seeking suspension of the eight members for the remaining period of the Budget session.
The House passed the resolution by a voice vote, following which the proceedings were adjourned for the day amid uproar. (PTI)
