 "Suspended MPs")
The Lok Sabha passed three Bills on Tuesday amid suspension of 49 more members of Parliament (MPs) of the INDIA bloc of parties for disrupting proceedings. This took the total number of such suspensions in the two Houses since Thursday to 141.
The Congress, which now has only nine MPs in the Lok Sabha that have not been suspended, termed it a “complete purge” to ensure the passage of “draconian Bills” without any meaningful debate in the new Parliament. Congress Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh dubbed the suspensions as “Namocracy in all its tyranny”.
Opposition MPs have demanded a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the December 13 security breach. The government justified the action as it accused the suspended MPs of insulting Lok Sabha Speaker, Rajya Sabha Chairman, and the institution of Parliament.
The Lok Sabha passed three Bills, including the Central Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill and the Provisional Collection of Taxes Bill. The House passed the Bills by voice vote after a short debate. The Lok Sabha also took up for discussion three Bills that seek to replace the existing criminal laws of the country.
As the Lok Sabha met on Tuesday, Opposition members shouted slogans and waved placards, which had Speaker Om Birla adjourn the proceedings till noon. The unruly scenes were repeated when the House reassembled, prompting the government to draw up a list of 25 Opposition members for suspension from the Lok Sabha. The Opposition benches then offered additional names from their ranks to the government in three tranches, taking the total number of members to be suspended from the Lok Sabha to 49.
The Lok Sabha took up legislative business when it re-convened at 2 pm and passed the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second (Amendment) Bill after a brief discussion. It was later passed by Rajya Sabha, too.
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Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, while moving a motion for the suspension of the MPs, accused the protesting members of being “frustrated” over the recent Assembly election results.
“INDIA bloc MPs have been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach in Parliament on December 13. They had agreed not to bring placards. They are frustrated with their loss, so taking such steps. These people will not come back to the House next time if this behaviour continues,” Joshi said.
As many as 27 questions posed by suspended Opposition members of the Lok Sabha were deleted from the list of queries to be asked on Tuesday. Similarly, the names of several suspended MPs were removed from groups of members asking the same question to various ministers.
In a related development, the INDIA bloc sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu over the suspensions. The suspension of 49 Lok Sabha MPs comes on the heels of 78 MPs suspended on Monday in the two Houses. On Thursday, 14 MPs, including a Rajya Sabha member, were suspended.
The MPs suspended on Tuesday include National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Karti Chidambaram, Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav, Supriya Sule of the NCP and Danish Ali who has been suspended from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Sushil Kumar Rinku of the Aam Aadmi Party.
Oppn providing indirect support to security breach incident: PM
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday accused the Opposition parties of providing “muted and indirect” support to the security breach incident in Parliament and asserted that they would remain in opposition with further reduced numbers in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections because of their conduct.
Addressing a meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentary party, Modi said they were giving “political spin” to the incident in frustration over its losses in the recent assembly polls.
He asked BJP MPs to inform first-time voters about the situation in the country 10 years back, noting that those aged around 18 years have only seen his government's development works and India's rising stature globally. They might not be aware of the corruption and misrule a decade back, he said. A campaign on these lines can be taken up on the National Voters’ Day, which falls on January 25, he said.
