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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Lok Sabha speaker suspends 25 Congress MPs
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Lok Sabha speaker suspends 25 Congress MPs

TMC, NCP, JDU, RJD, Indian Union Muslim League and Left parties to boycott the House for next five days

Lok Sabha Speaker Mahajan on Monday suspended 25 Congress members for five days for ‘persistently, wilfully obstructing” the House’. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/MintPremium
Lok Sabha Speaker Mahajan on Monday suspended 25 Congress members for five days for ‘persistently, wilfully obstructing” the House’. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint

New Delhi: The politics of disruption took a dramatic turn on Monday with Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspending 25 members of Parliament (MPs) from the Congress for five days for repeatedly causing “grave disorder" in the lower House.

The speaker’s inclement action could precipitate an already difficult situation—something that could derail the government’s ambitious legislative agenda, which includes passage of the goods and services tax (GST) bill.

Mahajan last week appealed to Congress parliamentarians not to display placards or wear black arm bands. She urged them not to disrupt Lok Sabha proceedings and to desist from entering the well of the house.

“The opposition has a right to protest. Taking stringent action is not in my nature. I had called an all-party meeting but still Parliament rules are not being followed. Parliament rules have to be followed. Coming into the well and showing posters is against the rules. Everyone has to go by the rules," Mahajan said.

The move to suspend the 25 Congress MPs—the party has only 44 members in the Lok Sabha—has deepened the rift between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and a united opposition led by the Congress.

“It is a black day for democracy," Congress president Sonia Gandhi told reporters.

Soon after the suspension of the MPs, several political parties, including Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)), Left parties, Aam Aadmi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party (SP) expressed solidarity with the Congress and decided not to attend the Lok Sabha proceedings for the next five days.

“It is my appeal to the Lok Sabha speaker to take back the decision. We will also oppose and not attend the proceedings of the Lok Sabha. This step is undemocratic," said Sharad Yadav, chief of the JD(U).

“This is a dictatorial attitude of the government. It is unacceptable," said SP spokesperson Rajesh Dikshit.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, will also boycott the proceedings for five days in protest against the suspension of the Congress MPs.

“We will support the Congress on this issue. It is not at all justified... to suspend them," said a Lok Sabha member of the CPM.

The AAP has also decided to boycott the proceedings for five days in support of the MP’s who have been suspended, the party’s Lok Sabha member Bhagwant Mann told reporters.

The Congress and other opposition parties are demanding the resignation of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Bharatiya Janata Party chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje, respectively. The government has rejected the demand, sparking opposition protests.

The parties want Swaraj and Raje to quit for interceding with British authorities to help former cricket administrator Lalit Modi, who is sought in India in connection with investigations of alleged irregularities in the Indian Premier League (IPL) when he headed it. They have sought’s Chouhan’s ouster over irregularities in the conduct of the entrance test for admission to professional courses and government job recruitment.

The Congress has decided to stage protests both inside and outside Parliament for the next five days over the suspension of its MPs.

“We are going to organize agitation against the government. Congress and other like-minded opposition parties will not go to the House and will not sign the attendance register," a senior Lok Sabha leader from the party said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

““At the end of the day, parliamentary system requires give and take which is clearly missing and it seems to be a continuation of the old tradition—only those in power were in the opposition then and those in opposition then are now the government," said Sandeep Shastri, a Bengaluru-based political analyst and pro-vice chancellor of Jain University.

Referring to the Congress not getting the post of the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha (the cause of significant angst in the party, although its poor performance in the election left this decision in the hands of the government which was only too happy to say no), Shastri said: “When you do not accord the opposition its space in the House, it takes the recourse that it has taken right now to make its voice heard."

On Monday, the National Democratic Alliance government called an all-party meeting that didn’t yield any results.

The Congress insisted that issues such as the Madhya Pradesh corruption scandal and the controversy over Lalit Modi be addressed first.

“Unless these main issues are worked out, the House won’t work," said Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha.

The government said it was ready to discuss the issues and claimed that most political parties wanted to talk and blamed the Congress for disrupting the functioning of both the Houses.

“There are economic legislations, issues related to agriculture... Most political parties want discussion and Congress party is isolated. Congress party should act like a responsible party," finance minister Arun Jaitley said about the all-party meeting.

Earlier in the day, Congress president Gandhi criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not taking any action against Swaraj, Chouhan and Raje.

“On the one hand, he (Modi) never misses an opportunity to claim the moral high ground on transparency, integrity and accountability. On the other, he has been conspicuous by his deafening silence on the blatant transgressions by his external affairs minister and two of his chief ministers. The champion of mann ki baat appears to have retreated into a maun vrat, Gandhi said while addressing a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

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Published: 03 Aug 2015, 03:42 PM IST
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