Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said the suspension of MPs would “undermine the spirit of Parliamentary democracy” and described the practice as a “deliberate design by the ruling party to throttle the voice of the Opposition”.
The MP, who was suspended from the Lok Sabha for “deliberate and repeated misconduct”, said he could “approach the Supreme Court”, if needed. “I cannot contradict the direction of the Chair but if I find that this kind of situation could be resolved by the Court, I may also try this,” he added. His suspension has been referred to the Privileges Committee.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Chowdhury said: ”This is a new phenomenon we have never before experienced in our career in Parliament.”
He said the Opposition was forced to use the last resort of moving a no-confidence motion against the government in the Lok Sabha so as to force Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak in Parliament on the Manipur issue.
He pointed out that the Opposition had been urging the PM since the beginning of the monsoon session of Parliament to make a statement on the situation in Manipur. “But when he did not show up, we had to look for other alternatives”. He alleged that the ruling dispensation kept on passing bills in Parliament while a debate on the no-confidence motion remained pending. The Opposition did not even get an opportunity to voice its opinion on many bills.
Chowdhury also took a swipe at the PM over his sharp criticism of the I.N.D.I.A alliance of Opposition parties. “Why is Modi ji opposed to the word I.N.D.I.A.?…There is no difference between India and Bharat”.