4 Cong MPs suspended from Lok Sabha over misconduct

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday suspended four protesting Congress members for the remainder of the monsoon session, amid continuing disruptions in Parliament proceedings by the Opposition on issues of high inflation and GST (goods and services tax) on household essentials. The Lower House was then adjourned till Tuesday.

The MPs who stormed the well of the House holding placards were suspended under Rule 374(2) “for serious note of misconduct in utter disregard of the House and the authority of the Chair...”, according to the resolution for their suspension.

The suspended parliamentarians are Manickam Tagore, TN Prathapan, S Jothimani and Ramya Haridas. Prathapan and Haridas are from Kerala and the other two lawmakers belong to Tamil Nadu.

“People want Parliament to function,” Birla said on Monday, appealing for order in the House. This was the first time that members were suspended in the current session. The suspension lapses at the end of the session but the four lawmakers named by the Speaker can individually appeal to him to lessen the duration.

“The government is ready to discuss issues raised by the Opposition,” Birla said. If members wanted to protest with placards, they could do so outside the House, he said. Parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi requested Birla to disqualify the MPs who trooped into the well and were holding placards inside the House.

The Opposition, led by Congress and Trinamool Congress members, demonstrated inside the Lok Sabha, leading to an adjournment till 3pm after the lunch recess. Parliament proceedings have been continuously disrupted since the monsoon session began on July 18. Opposition MPs shouted slogans and marched to the well of the House with placards.Tagore moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha to discuss the imposition of 5% goods and services tax on items of daily use such as pre-packed and labelled food grains, curd, butter and milk, among others.

“For the past six days, we have been giving notices to adjourn the House and discuss fuel price rise and GST. We want Parliament to function and discuss price rise. But the government has refused to discuss the issues so far. We were forced to show placards as Sansad TV doesn’t show us when we protest. Whenever we raise issues, Sansad TV only shows the ruling benches,” Tagore told reporters.

Officials pointed out that it is not the first time that parliamentarians have been suspended from the House in this Lok Sabha. “The last case of suspension took place on April 5, 2020 when a total of seven Opposition MPs were temporarily suspended from the Lok Sabha,” an official said.

In the Rajya Sabha, eight opposition lawmakers in the House, including a few floor leaders, were suspended for “unruly behaviour” during the passage of two controversial agriculture sector-related bills on September 21, 2020. On a few other occasions too, protesting Opposition MPs have been suspended from the Rajya Sabha during the current Lok Sabha’s tenure.

There was no immediate comment on Monday’s suspensions from the BJP, while the Opposition hit out at the move.

“How unfortunate is it that two young women MPs from the weaker section have been suspended from the Lok Sabha just for demanding a discussion on price rise, the very same day when a woman from an oppressed class took oath as the President of India,” Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali tweeted.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury tweeted: “Four MPs from @INCIndia party have been suspended from Lok sabha when they were agitating against the govt for abnormal price hike of essential commodities. The govt is resorting to the ploy of suspension in order to throttle the voices of the opposition.”

“I must appreciate the moral rectitude and intrepidity of those suspended members, and will double down our efforts to expose the anti people policies of this govt,” he added.

The Congress’s communications chief Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “Today Rajya Sabha ran for some 90 mins after 4 pm but there was absolute chaos with Modi Govt simply not agreeing to combined Opposition (TMC & AAP included) demand for an URGENT debate on price rise & GST. Bogus assurances of debate at some unspecified later date WILL NOT do!”