‘Never experienced before…’: Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on suspension; ‘a new phenomenon’; likely to move SC, if need be

Congress MP and Leader of Oppostion in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, days after being suspended from the House over ‘unruly behaviour’, on Saturday said ‘this is a new phenomenon that we have never experience before in our career in Parliament'. He asked whether putting out arguments in the House warrants suspension, adding that his remarks (during the no-confidence debate) were ‘not intended to hurt anyone’.

"This is a new phenomenon we have never before experienced in our career in Parliament...This is a deliberate design by the ruling party to throttle the voice of the opposition...This will undermine the spirit of parliamentary democracy,” Chowdhury said, adding that, if need be, he can approach the Supreme Court.

Also read: ‘Namaskar, mai suspended sansad…’: Raghav Chadha after being debarred from Rajya Sabha

During the no-confidence motion debate, Chowdhury attempted to compare Prime Minister Narendra Modi with fugitive Nirav Modi and Hindu epic Mahabharata's Dhritarashtra, father of the Kauravas.

“When Dhritarashtra was blind, Draupadi was humiliated (by means of cheerharan). Today as well, the king is sitting blind…There's no difference between Hastinapur and Manipur,” he said as loosely translated from Hindi.

Moving the suspension motion, Union parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi said, "Baseless allegation against the Prime Minister cannot be accepted. This should be expunged and he should apologise.”

Further, he argued for the name I.N.D.I.A., opted by the newly-formed Opposition alliance, and asked why PM Modi is opposed with its use. He recalled the evolution of how BJP, which is leading the NDA coalition now, got its name.

“Once, BJP was Visva Hindu Parishad, Bharatiya Jana Sangh and then gradually became NDA…This means PM Modi, who gave out several acronyms on the particular word himself, feels uncomfortable by I.N.D.I.A.,” he said.