The MPs' suspension from the Lok Sabha came after they were found displaying leaflets and placards on the floor of the House.
Published Jul 25, 2022 | 6:49 PM ⚊ Updated Jul 25, 2022 | 8:51 PM
Suspended Congress MPs — (from left to right) Ramya Haridas (Alathur), Jothimani Sennimalai (Karur), TN Prathapan (Thrissur), and Manickam Tagore (Virudhnagar) displaying placards inside the Parliament complex. (Tamil Nadu COngress Committee / Twitter)
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Monday, 25 July, suspended four Members of Parliament from the Congress for the rest of the ongoing Monsoon Session on charges of misconduct and disobedience.
However, it does not seem to have deterred the Opposition party from continuing its protest against the ruling dispensation.
Congress MPs told South First that they would continue to bring up the GST rate hike, inflation, and other issues in Parliament.
The suspended MPs are Manickam Tagore and Jothimani Sennimalai from Tamil Nadu, and TN Prathapan and Ramya Haridas from Kerala.
After their suspension on Monday, the proceedings of the Lok Sabha were adjourned for the day after other MPs staged a protest at the well of the House and displayed placards to press for their demands to be met.
Parliament’s proceedings on Monday, 25 July, began late — at 2 pm rather than the usual at 11 am — due to the swearing-in ceremony of Droupadi Murmu as the 15th President of India.
जनता की आवाज़ दबाने की सजा दे रही है सरकार।
मगर आवाज़ दबेगी नहीं, चाहे जितने कर लो वार।। pic.twitter.com/bV2QjkNVGL— Congress (@INCIndia) July 25, 2022
The suspension of the four MPs came after they were found displaying leaflets and placards on the floor of the House.
Birla reportedly told the protesting MPs that the government was ready for a discussion on price hikes and inflation if the Opposition wanted it.
The Speaker, however, added that if the MPs only wanted to show placards in the House, they could do so outside the House after 3 pm as the people of India wanted the House to run.
Last week, the Lok Sabha secretariat issued an advisory prohibiting the possession or distribution of placards, leaflets, and pamphlets leading to demonstrations in the Parliament complex.
This came after the Opposition created a ruckus after not being permitted to hold strikes, protests, or fasts on the Parliament precinct.
The order read, “As per established convention, no literature, questionnaire, pamphlets, Press notes, leaflets or any matter printed or otherwise should be distributed without the prior permission of Hon’ble Speaker within the precincts of the House. Placards are also strictly prohibited inside the Parliament House Complex. [sic]”
விலைவாசி உயர்வு, சமையல் எரிவாயு விலை உயர்வு ஆகியவைகளை வலியுறுத்தி மக்களவையில் பதாதைகள் ஏந்தி கோஷம் எழுப்பிய காங்கிரஸ் எம்.பி.கள் திருமிகு @jothims திரு @manickamtagore திருமிகு @RamyaHaridasMP திரு.டி என் பிரதாப் ஆகியோர் மழைக்கால கூட்டத்தொடர் முழுவதும் இடைநீக்கம். pic.twitter.com/LPPHxUiYk1
— Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (@INCTamilNadu) July 25, 2022
Earlier, Tagore — from the Virudhnagar constituency in Tamil Nadu — gave an adjournment-motion notice in the Lok Sabha to discuss the 5-percent GST on prepacked and prelabelled food grains, curd, butter milk, etc.
Both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha — into their sixth day of the 2022 Monsoon Session — have seen disruptions by the sloganeering and uproar from the Opposition parties over issues like the GST rate hike, inflation, unemployment, Agnipath military recruitment scheme, and the alleged misuse of investigating agencies against opposition leaders.
After Monday’s suspension of the Congress MPs, Tagore told reporters that he and his colleagues were regularly giving adjournment motions to the Speaker in line with Parliamentary rules.
“However, the government is not ready to hear our voice. It is only ready to hear the fourth-richest man’s voice,” he said in a veiled dig at industrialist Gautam Adani.
He added that the suspended MPs would continue their protest at the Gandhi Statue every day of the rest of the session.
Congress leader and Lok Sabha member from West Bengal Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury went one step further.
He told South First: “Even if all our MPs are suspended, we will continue the protests on the same issues till the government listens to us.”
He added: “This government is trying to throttle the voice of the Opposition. It is trying to intimidate us. We were neatly demanding to discuss the GST issue as Parliament is the right forum to discuss it. It is our right and duty to question the government but they are ready to listen. That is why our MPs displayed placards as it is the basic sign of the Indian democratic system.”
He also said: “Even the BJP’s deceased leader Arun Jaitely called disruption a part of Parliamentary democracy.”
Meanwhile, Congress MP from Assam Gaurav Gogoi told South First, “When the whole Opposition is protesting, it is unfair to suspend some MPs as they were not casting any aspersions on the Speaker.”
He added: “All this could have been avoided if the BJP accepted the demands of the Congress and Opposition parties for urgent discussions on inflation and the GST rate hike.”
