Senior Opposition leaders on Friday broke with tradition and stepped into the Well of the Lok Sabha with placards to protest, daring the Narendra Modi government to get them suspended, a day after 14 MPs were suspended for “misconduct” while demanding home minister Amit Shah’s statement on the Parliament security breach.
Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Chowdhury, the Trinamul Congress’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay, the DMK’s T.R. Balu, National Conference veteran Farooq Abdullah and some others led Opposition MPs into the Well of the Lok Sabha in the new Parliament building amid loud slogans slamming the “tanashahi” (dictatorial) attitude of the government, and demanding the resignation of Shah and action against BJP MP Pratap Simmha, who had issued visitors’ passes to two of the accused.
The senior leaders sought to repeat the same kind of conduct in the House for which 13 Lok Sabha MPs and 1 Rajya Sabha MP were swiftly suspended on Wednesday, seeking to dare the government to get them suspended too. Opposition members went near the Speaker’s Chair and waved placards and raised slogans, considered a grave violation. The move was also meant to show solidarity with the suspended MPs.
The rules of conduct for MPs inside the House prohibit waving placards and protesting in the Well. The leaders — heading their respective parties — who rarely enter the Well to protest, held placards and raised slogans, daring the government to get them suspended too. Convention has it that senior leaders stay put in front of their seats while younger MPs troop to the Well and raise slogans.
The Opposition veterans and their colleagues started descending into the Well even before the Lok Sabha had assembled for the day at 11am. Along with placards, slogans of “tanashahi nahi chalegi”, “grih mantri ishtifa do”, “Pradhan Mantri sadan me aao” and “BJP MP par action lo” were raised by the Opposition members.
Sensing the Opposition’s aggression, Speaker Om Birla did not come to the House and sent one of the presiding officers, Rajendra Agrawal, who adjourned the House in barely a minute. Both Houses were adjourned for the day without transacting any business as the Opposition sought to counter the government’s aggressive stand of suspending their MPs.
The Speaker had on Thursday sought to absolve the government over the Parliament security breach, stressing that as the custodian of the premises it was his responsibility to ensure safety and security. The Opposition, however, insisted that given the seriousness of the lapse, home minister Shah should at least make a statement in both Houses.
Modi and Shah continued to skip Parliament, avoiding questions on the security breach from the Opposition. On Friday, Modi and the BJP’s top leadership were in Rajasthan attending the swearing-in of the new government in the state.
Shah breaking his silence on the Parliament security breach at a media house conclave instead of Parliament seemed to have angered the Opposition. “What kind of justice is it to illegally suspend Opposition MPs over the huge lapse in the security of Parliament and MPs? The Home Minister of the country can give interviews on TV but cannot give statements on the floor of Parliament,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a post on X.
Ahead of the start of proceedings, Opposition leaders, along with the suspended MPs, held a protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue, accusing the government of trying to gag them. Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, too, stood at the gate of the new Parliament building to show solidarity with the suspended MPs.
The move to dare the government to suspend more Opposition MPs, including senior leaders, was taken at a meeting of the INDIA bloc parties in Parliament. Along with Sudip, Balu stressed that all senior leaders should protest in the Well and get themselves suspended to show solidarity with the suspended members.
Even the Lok Sabha leader of the BJD, a party known to be friendly towards the government, justified the Opposition’s demand to seek a statement from the Centre.
