Seven Members of Parliament belonging to the Congress were on Thursday suspended by the Lok Sabha Speaker for the rest of the Budget session on charges of “gross misconduct”.
The suspension was ordered after some Congress party MPs snatched a copy of a Bill, tore the papers and tossed them at Rama Devi who was in the Chair at the time.
The seven Congress MPs are Gaurav Gogoi, TN Prathapan, Dean Kuriakose, R Unnithan, Manickam Tagore, Benny Behnan and Gurjeet Singh Aujla.
Following the pandemonium, the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day.
Reacting to the suspension of its members, Congress’ leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the party “strongly condemns” the act.
“Is this a dictatorship? It seems Govt doesn’t want Delhi violence issue to be discussed in Parliament.. that is why this suspension. We strongly condemn this,” he said.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi told reporters that the Opposition had reached heights of indiscipline and arrogance. “Some pieces of paper were directly thrown at Speaker’s Chair (in Lok Sabha). This is highly condemnable and unpardonable,” he added.
BJP MP Rajendra Agrawal told news agency ANI that the act by the Congress MPs “shows the irresponsible behaviour of our parliamentarians and goes against the dignity of the Parliament.”
Ever since Parliament resumed the Budget session on March 2, Congress MPs have been disrupting proceedings with slogans demanding the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah over the riots that shook several parts of north-east Delhi from February 23 to 25.
The Lok Sabha has witnessed shoving, blocking ways and shouting at each other to the degree that Speaker Om Birla had to adjourn the House multiple times.