Parliament Breach: 14 MPs suspended from Parliament for the remainder of the Winter Session | India News

NEW DELHI: It was a day of suspensions in Parliament on Thursday. Day after Lok Sabha security was breached, 14 opposition party MPs were suspended from Parliament for the remainder of the Winter Session, for “disrupting” proceedings.
The Lok Sabha security breach incident, when two young men on Wednesday jumped into the chamber from the visitor’s gallery, snowballed into a major row on Thursday with the government asking the Opposition not to “politicise” the “grave national issue,” and Congress, TMC, DMK and other opposition parties were unrelenting in demanding a statement from home minister Amit Shah.The opposition also demanded that Shah should “resign” if he fails to make a statement in the House.
While Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O’Brien was suspended from Rajya Sabha, 14 opposition MPs, including nine from Congress and DMK’s Kanimozhi, were suspended from Lok Sabha for disrupting the proceedings. O’Brien’s matter was also referred to the Privilege Committee of the House.
Amid opposition protests, demanding a statement on the breach from Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi moved two resolutions separately for suspension of MPs for disrupting the proceedings in Lok Sabha.
Opposition MPs had moved into the well of Lok Sabha raising slogans, questioning the breach and demanding a statement from the government.
While T N Prathapan, Hibi Eden, Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose from Congress, were suspended when the first resolution was adopted, four Congress MPs – V K Sreekandan, Benny Behanan, Mohammed Jawaid and Manickam Tagore — along with PR Natarajan (CPM), Kanimozhi (DMK), K Subbarayan (CPI), SR Parthiban (DMK) and S Venkatesan (CPM) were suspended through the second resolution.
Several opposition MPs also claimed later that Parthiban was named among the suspended MPs even though he is not present in Delhi and is in Chennai.
Soon after Rajya Sabha met at noon after an adjournment, chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar warned O’Brien against disrupting the proceedings. He asked the TMC leader to leave the House but O’Brien kept up the protest. The chairman then allowed leader of the House Piyush Goyal, to move a motion to suspend O’Brien under Rule 256. The motion to suspend O’Brien for the remainder of the session was adopted with a voice vote.
When O’Brien refused to leave the Rajya Sabha chambers even after his suspension, the matter of his conduct was referred to the Privileges Committee of the House. The committee has been asked to submit its report in three months.
In Lok Sabha, Joshi said, “We all agree” that the unfortunate incident on Wednesday was a serious one concerning the safety and security of MPs.” It should be appreciated that Speaker Om Birla held a meeting with floor leaders following the incident and heard their suggestions for further strengthening Parliament security, he said adding, “In my opinion, this matter concerns all of us and we have to speak in one voice,” Joshi said in his statement.
On such a “grave national issue,” no politics is expected to be done by anyone, the minister said. Asserting that the Speaker is the custodian of the Parliament House complex, the minister said internal security of Parliament House is under the purview of the Speaker. “I want to emphasise that in the past also all such matters have been dealt with as per the directions of the Speaker…This incident is clearly a grave contempt of this House and this House is at liberty to deal with it as per the Constitution and the rules of procedure of the conduct of business,” Joshi said. From the point of view of the violation of other laws, appropriate agencies will be dealing with this incident as per the law of the land, he added.
The minister informed the House that the Speaker has written a letter to the Home Secretary for a high-level inquiry and the probe has already begun. Joshi also said that it has become the habit of some members to politicise all issues. “I request them not to politicise the issue,” he said.
“I request that proceedings be taken forward. I urge them (Opposition) to take it forward and debate take place on an important bill,” he said.
Three bills seeking to replace the existing criminal laws were listed for discussion in Lok Sabha on Thursday but could not be taken up due to the disruptions. The House had to be adjourned thrice before calling it a day.