The opposition parties, led by the Congress, today staged a protest against the suspension of six Congress MPs from the Lok Sabha in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi inside the Parliament complex.
The leaders of the Congress, Left, Trinamool Congress, RJD and JD(U) shouted slogans against the Narendra Modi government over the five-day suspension of the MPs and said they would take their protest inside the House as well.
They urged Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to reconsider the decision to suspend Gaurav Gogoi, Sushmita Dev, Ranjeet Ranjan, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, K Suresh and M K Raghavan.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Mallikarjun Kharge, JD-U's Sharad Yadav, CPI's D Raja, NCP's Supriya Sule and TMC leaders, including Kalyan Banerjee, were among those who took part in the protests.
The six suspended MPs were also present on the occasion.
Earlier, the Congress held a "strategy meeting" to discuss the suspension of the MPs.
Azad, the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said, "It is a normal practice for members to demand that they be allowed to speak whenever they are not allowed to do so. Instead of allowing them to speak, they were expelled from the House."
Asked if the MPs tore papers and lowered the dignity of the House, he retorted back saying, "What was the BJP doing for 10 years? They were the worst inside both the Houses."
On BJP MPs allegedly filming the ruckus in the House, following which the MPs were suspended, Azad said, "Action should be taken against everyone if found guilty, even if they are from the ruling party."
Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, Kharge claimed that such an incident never took place under former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who, he said, never lost her cool amid the "usual" turbulence which the Lower House often faced.
Other Congress leaders like P L Punia alleged that not allowing the opposition leaders to speak had become a trend these days.
The Congress members were yesterday suspended from the Lok Sabha by the speaker for causing a "grave disorder" by storming into the Well, tearing papers and throwing them towards the Chair during their protests over the recent incidents of mob lynching in the country.
Ordering their suspension amid noisy protests by the Congress members and counter-slogans of "shame, shame" from the BJP benches, the speaker said the conduct of the six opposition MPs was "highly unbecoming" and had undermined the dignity of the Chair.
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