Identifying disruptive MPs by name in the House bulletin is an “insult” and an “infringement on our right”, an indignant M. Venkaiah Naidu had nine years ago told the then Rajya Sabha Chairman from the Opposition benches.

Naidu, who is now the Rajya Sabha Chairman, on Thursday announced that Opposition members who were protesting with placards would be named in the bulletin.

The bulletin, issued in the evening, said Sushil Kumar Gupta, Sandeep Kumar Pathak (both from the Aam Admi Party) and Ajit Kumar Bhuyan (Congress-backed Independent) had been suspended for the remainder of this week. They join 20 others who had been suspended on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The trio had protested in the well of the House with placards in hand, pressing for a discussion on the rise in prices of essential commodities.

Naidu said they would be suspended and that “they are named” (in the bulletin), before adjourning the House at 11.11am. A bulletin on each day’s proceedings is published on the Rajya Sabha website.

Naming on the bulletin is a rare step and amounts to putting it on record that the members named were disrupting proceedings.

On August 8, 2013, Naidu had protested vociferously after 20 BJP members and 2 Telugu Desam members were named in the bulletin on the orders of then House Chairman Hamid Ansari for storming the well and disrupting proceedings the previous day.

“It is an insult, Sir. Also, it is discrimination against the main Opposition party. It is an infringement on our rights,” Naidu told Ansari during Question Hour.

“Politely, I would like to know from the Chairman, what this practice is of naming members and putting their names in the bulletin? Sir, I have been in the House for the last 13 years. I have seen members entering the well of the House, tearing away papers and snatching them away from the minister on the women’s reservation bill. No such thing (naming) has been done earlier, but it has been done now because over the last two days, some members have protested, that too, belonging to the main Opposition Party, the BJP.

“Members are aggrieved by the actions of the government, they are lodging protests, and we must all find some way of conducting the proceedings of the House. I do agree with you on that, Sir, but naming one party and showing discrimination is not acceptable at all. We denounce this totally.”

On August 7, 2013, several BJP members including J.P. Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, Parshottam K. Rupala, Smriti Irani, Bhupender Yadav and Mansukh L. Mandaviya had rushed into the well to protest a statement from defence minister A.K. Antony on the killing of five Indian soldiers on the LoC.

Nadda is now BJP president while Pradhan, Rupala, Irani, Yadav and Mandaviya are cabinet ministers.

Antony had suggested a possible militant hand, which the BJP members had seen as the government providing an escape route to Pakistan.

The official bulletin on August 8 said the Chair had adjourned the House “due to gross disorderly conduct in violation of rules and etiquettes of Rajya Sabha by the following members who entered the ‘well’ of the House and persistently and wilfully obstructed the proceedings of the House”. It then named the 22 members.

None were suspended, though.

As Naidu protested on August 8, Rupala too had stood up to say: “Sir, yeh Congress party ka daptar nehi hai (Sir, this is not the office of Congress party).”

The then leader of the Opposition, Arun Jaitley, had appealed for reconsideration of the decision to name the 22 members.

Following this, then parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath appealed to deputy Chairman P.J. Kurian, who was in the Chair at the time, for a reconsideration of the decision. Ansari then changed his decision and the names were deleted from the bulletin.

On Thursday morning, leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge had met Naidu and sought revocation of the suspensions handed till Wednesday. But Naidu said this would be considered only if the suspended members regretted their conduct in the House, sources said.

When the House reconvened at noon on Thursday --- after Naidu had adjourned proceedings and said those protesting would be named --- deputy Chairman Harivansh was in the Chair.

Junior parliamentary affairs minister V. Muraleedharan moved a motion for suspending the three members. It was passed by voice vote.

Harivansh announced the suspensions and the trio were asked to withdraw themselves from the House.

However, the suspended members stayed on. The House was adjourned four times before being finally adjourned for the day as the suspended members refused to leave and the protest continued.

The bulletin, issued in the evening, said: “The Chairman also named those members who were displaying placards while standing in the well of the House…. The following members were suspended from the services of the House for the remainder of the current week: 1. Shri Sushil Kumar Gupta 2. Shri Sandeep Kumar Pathak 3. Shri Ajit Kumar Bhuyan.”

On August 4 last year, too, the bulletin had named six Trinamul members and said they “shall absent themselves during the remainder of the day’s meetings”. Naidu had penalised these members for protesting with posters inside the well, demanding a discussion on the Pegasus snooping controversy.

Naidu has always objected to members holding placards during proceedings. He has at meetings with Opposition leaders asked them to advise members of their parties to stop displaying placards.

Rajya Sabha sources said that according to the “parliamentary customs and conventions”, as codified in the Handbook for the Members of Rajya Sabha, the “production of exhibits on the floor of the House is not in order”.

On Thursday, the motion for suspension made a rare mention that the members had “displayed placards this morning” along with other acts of disruption such as entering the well and shouting slogans. Normally such motions make only a general mention of the disruption.

Earlier, during Zero Hour, Opposition members had rushed into the well to demand suspension of all listed business for a discussion on the price rise under Rule 267. Members have been giving notices since the monsoon session began on July 18 for a discussion on the subject.

Naidu has said that a discussion can be conducted but not under Rule 267, which mandates the suspension of the day’s scheduled business to discuss a matter as demanded by some members. Discussions under other rules tend to be shorter.