Speaker Om Birla on Saturday wrote an open letter to all Lok Sabha MPs, rebuking the Opposition for linking the suspension of members with the Parliament security breach and stressing there was "no association" between the two.

Birla's letter, which seeks MPs' cooperation in running the House, comes a day after senior Opposition leaders broke with tradition and stepped into the Well of the House with placards, daring the government to suspend them too.

On Thursday, 13 Lok Sabha MPs and one Rajya Sabha MP were suspended for alleged disruption as the Opposition stalled proceedings seeking a statement from home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday’s storming of the Lok Sabha by two smoke canister-carrying youths.

The Opposition's aggression over the MPs' suspension seems to have put the government in a bind, and Birla appears to have taken it upon himself to try and defuse the situation. On Thursday, he had stressed that he, and not the government, was responsible for Parliament's security.

"It is indeed unfortunate that some Hon'ble Members and political parties are linking the decision of the House to suspend some Hon'ble Members from the service of the House to the incident which occurred on 13th of December 2023," Birla said in his letter.

"This is unwarranted. There is no association between the suspension of Hon'ble Members and the incident…."

The Speaker said the MPs were suspended "purely to uphold the sanctity of the House".

"At the time of the inauguration of the new building of our Parliament, we had resolved that we will refrain from bringing placards inside the House; we will not create ruckus in the well of the House," the letter said.

It added that the "people of our country do not appreciate the inappropriate conduct and interruptions during proceedings of the House", and underlined that the suspensions had come in this context.

Birla reiterated that the security of Parliament and its members was his responsibility, and added that such breaches had taken place in the past too.

The government too had cited past incidents in the House while claiming that these references were not meant to justify the latest security breach.

"Hon'ble Members are well aware that such incidents have happened in our House in the past as well. The nation has witnessed incidents such as visitors carrying pistols, shouting slogans jumping from the visitors' gallery...," Birla’s letter said.

"In all such incidents, the House has displayed exemplary solidarity and expressed the collective resolve against such incidents," the letter added, appearing to prod the members to do the same and not protest.

The Speaker said that two high-level committees had been formed, one to probe the security breach and the other to "review various aspects of security in the Parliament building and formulate a concrete action plan to ensure that such incidents do not recur". He said the inquiry report would be shared soon with the House.

"I believe that I will continue to receive the cooperation and support from esteemed colleagues," he signed off.

Opposition leaders have, however, made it clear that they would not suspend their protests until Shah makes a statement in both Houses over the security breach.

"The home minister is arrogant. He talks about the security lapses of the House on TV channel shows. But he is not ready to say the same thing inside the House," Congress member Jairam Ramesh had said on Friday.