AAP MP Sanjay Singh has been suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the remainder of the monsoon session amid a face-off in Parliament between the government and the opposition over the violence in Manipur. Mr Singh was suspended for allegedly jumping into the well of the House and raising slogans, and refusing to go back despite being warned by the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
The suspension, which comes at a time when the BJP and the Aam Aadmi Party have locked horns over the Centre's ordinance on control of bureaucrats in Delhi, invited a sharp reaction from the AAP. The party said Mr Singh is a strong voice of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the BJP would have put him in jail if it had its way.
"Mr Singh raises slogans and the entire opposition unites. It is obvious that he is a thorn in the government's side and they will try their best to silence his voice. But no matter what they do, be it such gimmicks or the misuse of probe agencies like the CBI and ED, the return of the BJP government is difficult. The legal wing will see what can be done," said AAP leader and Delhi Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj.
Floor leaders of opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha also walked out of a meeting called by Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar at 1 pm to discuss Mr Singh's suspension. They walked out after the Chairman objected to Raghav Chadha of the AAP and Santanu Sen of the Trinamool Congress attending the meeting as they are not the floor leaders of their respective parties.
Earlier, when Rajya Sabha proceedings resumed at noon after being adjourned for an hour, the Chairman allowed the question hour to start. Many opposition MPs pointed out that they had submitted notices under Rule 267, seeking a long discussion on the violence in Manipur. They also demanded that the Prime Minister come to the House to make a statement and initiate the discussion.
Mr Dhankhar allowed the question hour to continue. When Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat was answering questions related to his ministry, AAP MP Sanjay Singh allegedly jumped into the well of the House and began raising slogans.
Mr Singh was protesting against the question hour being allowed to go on when the opposition MPs were demanding a discussion under Rule 267. He was warned by the Chairman to go back, but he did not heed the warning and kept raising slogans.
The Leader of the House in the Rajya Sabha, Piyush Goyal, got up to say that this is a violation of the discipline and code of conduct of the Rajya Sabha, and urged the Chairman to take strong action against Mr Singh. He moved a motion to suspend him, which was adopted by the House by voice vote. The Chairman then announced Mr Singh's suspension.
The Rajya Sabha was then adjourned till 3 pm.
Both houses of the Parliament have been disrupted since the monsoon session began on July 20. The opposition parties have been demanding a detailed discussion on the violence in Manipur and a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue inside Parliament.
While the Opposition has demanded that all other business be suspended for the day to take up the Manipur issue, the government has agreed only to a "short-duration discussion".
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