In all, 141 MPs suspended from Parliament; not good for democracy, says Kharge

Another batch of 49 MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (December 19) for allegedly disrupting proceedings of the House, taking the total number of suspended Parliamentarians in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to 141. 

The suspended MPs are:

1. V Vaithilingam

With this, the INDIA bloc's Lok Sabha strength has dropped to 38. It may be recalled that the Opposition alliance is holding a meeting today in New Delhi.

On Monday, 33 MPs from the Lok Sabha and 45 from the Rajya Sabha were suspended following Opposition protests demanding a response from Home Minister Amit Shah on the Parliament security breach issue. Last Thursday, 13 MPs were suspended by Birla for waving placards and disrupting House proceedings.

'Not good for democracy'

LoP Rajya Sabha and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP, saying that this is not good for democracy. Members of Opposition parties held protests in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside Parliament premises on Tuesday against the suspensions. 

Speaking to ANI, Kharge said: "This is not good for democracy. It is an insult to Parliament. They are suspending the MPs to scare us." The Congress chief said several MPs have tried to put forward their opinions so far in Parliament.

"But Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah did not want to show up in the House. They are delivering lectures in Varanasi and Ahmedabad amid the ongoing session of the Parliament," he added.

Chaos in Rajya Sabha

Chaos reigned in the Rajya Sabha, which was adjourned twice during the pre-lunch period on Tuesday, after Opposition members continued to create an uproar while raising the issue of Parliament security breach. The chairman raised the issue of mimicry of the Speaker and the Chairman by an MP and the videography of the act, saying this was "shameful".

Soon after the house met at noon, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar ticked off senior Congress member Digvijaya Singh for causing disorder and asked him to take his seat. "I saw some time ago on TV channels... there is no limit to falling. I saw a senior leader of your party video-graphing the unparliamentary behaviour of another MP. He is even a bigger leader than you. I can only wish for good sense to prevail," he said, adding, "There must be some limit...At least spare some places."

"The issue is that the office of chairman of Rajya Sabha and the office of speaker is very different. Political parties will have their cross-currents, they will have exchanges, but imagine a senior leader of your party video-graphing another member of another party. Mimicry of chairman, mimicry of Speaker... How ridiculous, how shameful, how unacceptable," the chairman said.

RS adjourns 

Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan said the MPs come from far away places and they should be allowed to speak. But the chairman asked her to sit.

Soon, Digivijaya Singh and another Opposition member entered the well of the house and the Chairman adjourned the House till 2 pm, within two minutes of the beginning of proceedings.

Earlier, Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 12 noon, as a handful of the remaining Opposition MPs continued to press for a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah on the Parliament security breach.

Opposition benches deserted

The Opposition benches wore a deserted look on Tuesday. The Congress had just a few members, including Digvijaya Singh and Deependar Hooda, in attendance while some MPs from the TMC and the DMK were also present.

As the official listed papers were being laid on the table at the start of the proceedings, they rose in their places shouting slogans and demanding that Shah come to the House and give a statement on the security breach.

They also protested against the unprecedented number of MPs being suspended for demanding a statement from the government, while the BJP MP who had given the intruders a pass to enter Parliament continued to remain in the House.

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar rejected all four notices submitted by Opposition MPs for suspension of business to discuss security breach. Digvijaya Singh, Saket Gokhale, Deepender Hooda and other Opposition MPs protest

In RS, as of now, INDIA bloc strength is down from 95 to 48 (including 46 MPs suspended in this session and jailed AAP MP Sanjay Singh, who was suspended for an indefinite period during the Special Session).

27 queries by suspended MPs deleted from Lok Sabha question list

Meanwhile, in the LS, as many as 27 questions posed by suspended Opposition members were deleted from the list of queries to be asked on Tuesday.

Similarly, the names of several suspended MPs were removed from groups of members asking the same question to various ministers.

The name of Hanuman Beniwal, who resigned from Lok Sabha after being elected as a member of the Rajasthan assembly, was also deleted. While two-starred questions asked by TMC's Aparupa Poddar and Ramya Haridas of the Congress were deleted, 25 unstarred questions were also deleted from the list.

Ministers give oral replies to starred questions and written replies to unstarred questions.

Congress slams suspensions

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh tweeted on X, "Today at least 50 more INDIA MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha alone! A complete purge is being executed so that draconian Bills are passed without any meaningful debate, and so that the BJP MP who facilitated entry of the two intruders into the Lok Sabha on December 13th goes scot-free."

"The new Parliament reflects Namocracy in all its tyranny," he added in his post.

(With inputs from agencies)