New Delhi: Adding to the shock surrounding the suspension of 79 Opposition MPs from Parliament in a single day, as many as 49 members faced the same action today. This has taken the total number of MPs suspended this session to a whopping 141, the highest ever.
National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor and Karti Chidambaram, NCP's Supriya Sule and Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav are among the MPs suspended by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for disrupting proceedings today.
The Opposition MPs have been protesting in both Houses of Parliament over the massive security breach in Lok Sabha last week. They have been demanding that Union Home Minister Amit Shah address the Parliament on the security failure due to which two intruders entered the Lok Sabha chamber, jumped from desk to desk and released coloured smoke from canisters.
The Lok Sabha Speaker has maintained that any security-related incident in the House comes under the purview of the secretariat, and it will not let the centre intervene. "The government cannot intervene in (responsibilities of) Lok Sabha secretariat. We will not allow that either," he said last week.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview to Dainik Jagran newspaper, described the security breach as a "very serious" matter and said it should be probed. He has, however, said there is no need for a debate on this.
The spree of suspensions began last week. A day after the security breach, Opposition MPs started demanding a statement by the Home Minister. Thirteen Lok Sabha MPs and one Rajya Sabha MP were suspended on the grounds of unruly behaviour. Yesterday, the Opposition MPs resumed their protest. This led to a record 79 suspensions across both Houses. Today's 49 add to the spree.
Out of these 141 MPs, most have been suspended for the remainder of the session, while some await a report by the privileges committee on their conduct in the House.
The Opposition MPs have been protesting against their suspension on Parliament premises.
Responding to the latest round of suspensions, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X that a "complete purge is being executed so that draconian Bills are passed without any meaningful debate". He alleged that the suspension spree is also aimed at shielding the BJP MP whose office had facilitated the entry of two Parliament intruders.
"The new Parliament reflects Namocracy in all its tyranny," Mr Ramesh, one of the suspended MPs, added in his post.
Today's suspensions came after Opposition members raised slogans and some of them came to the Well of the House. Many of the MPs waved placards and some carried a morphed picture of Prime Minister Modi. The Speaker said it was against the rules to bring placards into the House.
"This House belongs to you. We all have decided that no one will bring placards inside the House. But you have come here with placards. Even you have come to the podium. Is it correct? Please go back to your seat. I am giving you a last warning," he said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said all MPs, at the time of the inauguration of the new Parliament building, had resolved not to come to the Well. He demanded action against the MPs carrying the Prime Minister's morphed picture.
"Both the buildings are under the Speaker's purview. We are following the Speaker's order. A high-level enquiry is going on. Saying that we will not allow the House to function ... they (opposition) should behave responsibly," he said.