File Photo: Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan - who has suspended 25 Congress lawmakers for five days for "persistently, wilfully obstructing" the House - says she agrees that her action today was "stringent."
"I tried not to be stringent for eight days. I tried my best to maintain the decorum of the house...but it is unacceptable that members cover the Speaker with placards" Ms Mahajan said.
Despite repeated warnings, Congress lawmakers have been trooping into the House wearing black bands and with placards that they have carried to the Well or centre and held them up while shouting slogans right in front of where the Speaker sits.
The party has continuously disrupted the monsoon session of parliament even since it began two weeks ago, demanding the resignation of three top BJP leaders.
Ms Mahajan said the opposition has a right to protest, but must keep rules in mind. "This is a message for everyone that they must go by the book," she said.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has called it a "black day for democracy." The Left, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal United and the Aam Aadmi Party have said they will join the Congress in a boycott of the house.
"To suspend 25 MPs together is not good for healthy parliamentary democracy. We are going to remain absent from the running session," said the Trinamool's Sudip Bandhopadhyay, who tried in vain to persuade the Speaker to reconsider her decision.
In the House, the Speaker named the 25 members she was suspending, said they would not attend five sittings and immediately adjourned the House for the day.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who angrily urged party leaders to protest, did not leave the House for quite some time after it was adjourned. She and her son and deputy Rahul Gandhi were seen holding discussions with leaders of some other opposition parties.
The Congress has 44 members in the Lok Sabha, its lowest strength ever.