Minutes before he was suspended along with 48 other Opposition MPs, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor posted on X that he entered the Well of Lok Sabha with a placard for the first time in his 15-year parliamentary career and expected suspension to follow.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP said he had joined the protest by Opposition MPs "out of solidarity" for his party colleagues "who have been unjustly suspended for demanding accountability from the government".
"I expect suspension to follow. It is a badge of honour to be defenestrated by an unfair process," he added in the post.
Soon after, he was among 49 MPs to be suspended by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on grounds of unruly behaviour inside the House. The others include National Conference's Farooq Abdullah, NCP's Supriya Sule and Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav.
Speaking to NDTV outside the House, Mr Tharoor described the suspension spree as "one-sided", "unfair" and "betrayal of parliamentary democracy".
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 and 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.
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.
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