The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die on Thursday, even as three more MPs were suspended from the House, taking the total number of suspended Opposition MPs to 146.
Parliament Winter Session: Three more Lok Sabha MPs were suspended for “misconduct and unruly behavior” even as the Lower House was adjourned sine die Thursday, a day ahead of schedule. The suspension of three more members takes the total number of Parliamentarians suspended during the Winter session to 146– 100 from the Lok Sabha and 46 from the Rajya Sabha.
Three Congress MPs– Deepak Baij, Nakul Nath, DK Suresh were suspended from Lok Sabha on Thursday for “unruly behavior”.
The ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament, which is set to conclude tomorrow, has been plagued by Opposition protests over various issues, including the demand for a statement in the House from Home Minister Amit Shah for the security breach on December 13.
In a major security breach on the anniversary of the 2001 Parliament terror attack, two persons jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, released yellow smoke from canisters and shouted slogans before being overpowered by some MPs.
Key Bills passed
On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha passed three key bills to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and the Indian Evidence Act.
The House also cleared a bill to establish a mechanism for the appointment of chief election commissioner and election commissioners.
Mahua Moitra expelled
TMC’s Mahua Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha after the House adopted a resolution accepting the recommendation of the House ethics committee which found her guilty for asking questions in Parliament in return of cash and gifts.
Moitra had dubbed the action against her as the ruling of a “kangaroo court”.
Mimicry row
On Tuesday, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee stirred a massive political storm when he mockingly mimicked the Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar during the opposition’s protest on the stairs of Parliament against the suspension of MPs, drawing strong condemnation from the ruling BJP.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was seen making a video of the mimicry “performance” by the TMC MP.
Following the incident, Dhankar lashed out at the TMC leader for the skit and Rahul Gandhi for filming it. “Shameful, ridiculous, unacceptable that an MP is mocking, and a second MP is videographing that incident,” the Vice-President said.
Reacting to the BJP’s “selective outrage”, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh shared an old video of Prime Minister Narendra Modi “mocking” ex-VP Hamid Ansari at his farewell inside the Rajya Sabha in 2017.
“It was August 10, 2017 during the farewell to Shri. Hamid Ansari, who was retiring as Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha after a long ten year tenure. It was then most shockingly that the Prime Minister mocked Mr. Ansari, one of India’s most distinguished diplomats, reducing his identity to his religion and in effect alleging that his entire professional and political achievements were because of his religious identity,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote on X while sharing a video of the Prime Minister’s speech in the Upper House.
Opposition protests mass suspension on MP’s
Opposition MPs Thursday staged a protest march from Parliament to Vijay Chowk in the national capital to protest the mass suspension of parliamentarians. Talking to reports, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge accused PM Modi of violating parliamentary privilege by not speaking on the security breach issue.
The Winter session began on December 4 and was scheduled to conclude on December 22. The House was adjourned sine die (indefinitely) a day ahead on Thursday.
(With PTI inputs)