Congress lawmakers Gaurav Gogoi and Sushmita Dev speak to NDTV
Gaurav Gogoi and Sushmita Dev, first-time MPs from Assam, have become the faces of the Congress protest in Parliament in this session.
While Gaurav, son of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi uses his vocal skills sitting in the same row as Rahul Gandhi, Sushmita Dev, daughter of Congress veteran Santosh Mohan Dev uses that as well as organisational skills - she gets the Congress gang together, talks to media channels and newspapers, and is quick on her feet to reach the well or Centre of the Lok Sabha.
Both were among the 25 Congress lawmakers suspended by the Speaker for unruly behaviour last week.
33-year-old Gaurav Gogoi's voice was hoarse when he spoke to NDTV today, but that didn't stop him from continuing to object loudly to the manner in which a BJP lawmaker had offended Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
"We have to do what it takes," he said when pointed out that the Speaker had called the protests a "murder of democracy," and quickly blamed the government for Parliament not functioning.
Sushmita Dev, 42, an alumnus of Delhi's St Stephen's College, has already had run-ins with other senior lawmakers like the Trinamool's Kalyan Banerjee. She attacked BJP lawmaker Ramesh Bidhuri, accused recently of making "sexist and abusive" remarks against her colleague Ranjeet Ranjan. The Congress protest in the monsoon session was her graduation test as an MP.
"I don't blame the Speaker, I blame the government," she said.
Then there is the veteran K Suresh, 59, from Kerala, spotted tearing up paper and throwing bits towards the Speaker's chair on Tuesday. The six-time MP proudly acknowledged that he is the Congress' loudest protester and added, "I did this and so did they when we were in government."
The Congress's protest agenda is chalked out at a daily 10.30 am meeting, often overseen by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi. That's where they decide how far to take the protest and when to back off like retracting the word "Modigate" from a discussion on the Lalit Modi controversy today.