The government on Wednesday told the Lok Sabha that it would consider revoking the suspension of MPs if the Opposition “guarantees” no protest in the Well of the House, the condition striking at the root of parliamentary democracy whose byword is the Opposition showing the mirror to the rulers and challenge their questionable policies.

The Opposition has been trying to take on the Narendra Modi government over price rise, the alleged use of investigating agencies for political vendetta, the Agnipath armed forces short-service recruitment scheme and other burning problems, but has faced a blizzard of suspensions in return.

Before the Rajya Sabha convened for the day, Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu informed Opposition leaders in the morning that the suspension of 19 MPs — a record — for the rest of the week would be revoked if they expressed regret. The crackdown, however, continued as Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party was suspended later during the proceedings, taking the total number of MPs made to sit out of the Upper House to 20. He was suspended for tearing papers and throwing them towards the Chair.

In the Lok Sabha, parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi sought the no-protest assurance after the DMK, NCP and the Trinamul Congress urged the House to take back the suspension of the four Congress MPs while stressing that protesting in the Well of the House with placards was “not unknown to the House”.

The demand for revocation of suspension from these leaders came in the Lok Sabha during the post-lunch session when Congress members were not present. The Congress MPs were out on the streets protesting against price rise and the questioning of party chief Sonia Gandhi by the Enforcement Directorate.

“If they (Opposition) are ready, we are ready. But will they guarantee that they will not come to the Well holding placards?” Joshi asked, adding that if the Opposition was ready to give an assurance, the government, with the consent of the Speaker, was prepared to withdraw the suspensions. Joshi also tweeted this, accusing the Congress of disturbing the House proceedings.

“We are ready to call back the suspended members, but the Opposition should ensure that they do not disturb the House again,” he tweeted.

Earlier during the Lok Sabha’s pre-lunch session as the Opposition protested in the Well demanding scrapping of the suspensions, Joshi told the House that the finance minister was back in Parliament after recovering from Covid and the government was ready to discuss price rise. “We are ready to discuss even today,” the parliamentary affairs minister said.

By seeking a no-protest “guarantee”, the government appeared to be trying to outwit the Opposition at a time it has kept the focus relentlessly on sky-high prices of essential commodities, the “hounding” of the Centre’s rivals through investigating agencies, the Agnipath scheme that had brought youths out on the streets in protest and other pressing matters.

The government seemed to be attempting to outsmart the Opposition, mainly the Congress, into silence through the no-protest rider and the mass suspensions.

The government also appeared to be taking advantage of the disunity in the Opposition camp. Trinamul and the AAP did not attend the morning meeting of the Opposition parties led by the Congress to discuss the response to the suspensions. Trinamul sought to further distance itself from the rest of the Opposition by staging a separate protest against the suspensions and price rise in the Parliament complex.

The 20 suspended Rajya Sabha MPs — seven from Trinamul, six from the DMK, three from the TRS, two from the CPM and one each from the CPI and the AAP — and the four Congress members of the Lok Sabha, however, displayed unity and began a sit-in on the Parliament lawns till their suspension is revoked.

The government’s tactical move to extract a no-protest guarantee came during the post-lunch session of the Lok Sabha. The pre-lunch session was rocked by protests leading to two adjournments. When the House reassembled at 2pm, leaders of non-Congress parties such as Trinamul, the NCP and the DMK intervened to press for revoking the suspensions. The NCP’s Supriya Sule said the Opposition wanted the House to run and went on to assure that the MPs would not troop to the Well of the House.

“We request the government to pardon and bring back the suspended MPs. We want debate and are willing to cooperate. We will not go to the Well,” Sule said. Trinamul’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay said the House would run smoothly if the suspended members were brought back.

A. Raja of the DMK reminded the government that it should not merely bank on its “numerical strength” for a healthy debate in the House. “Coming to the Well, democratically protesting with placards, is not unknown to this House,” Raja said, urging the government to revoke the suspensions.