LS speaker suspends 6 MPs
MPs throw papers at the Chair; behaviour ‘unbecoming’, says Mahajan
Amid heavy slogan shouting, high drama and pandemonium, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Monday suspended six Congress MPs from the Lower House for five days for causing “grave disorder” after they stormed the Well and tore official papers and threw them towards the Chair while protesting over nationwide incidents of mob lynching and cow vigilantism.
Ms Mahajan amid slogans of “shame, shame” from the Treasury benches, said that the conduct of Gaurav Gogoi, K. Suresh, Adhir Rajan Chowdhury, Ranjeet Ranjan, Sushmita Dev and M.K. Raghavan was “highly unbecoming” and had undermined the Chair’s dignity.
The Speaker said she was constrained to name these members due to their behaviour which was in “abuse” of the rules. “Gaurav Gogoi snatched papers from the table and waived them towards the Chair.
K. Suresh snatched papers from the table, tore them up and threw them towards the Chair. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Ranjeet Ranjan, Sushmita Dev and M.K. Raghavan tore papers and threw them towards the Chair,” she said in her order.
“The conduct of the members is highly unbecoming and in abuse of the rules of the House. It seeks to undermine the dignity of the House. These members were persistently and willfully obstructing the business of the House and have caused grave disorder,” the Speaker noted.
These members, she said, stood automatically suspended from the service of the House for five consecutive sittings under the provisions of Rule 374A of the procedure for conducting Lok Sabha business.
Earlier, the members in question along with lawmakers from their own party, the Left and the Trinamul, and even the RJD and Samajwadi Party, had been protesting against incidents of lynching and mob violence as soon as the proceedings of the Lok Sabha began at 11 am. They had entered the Well, the moment the Lower House assembled for the day, seeking a discussion on the matter while raising slogans against the Centre.
The Speaker while repeatedly requesting them to go back, said that they would be given the opportunity during Zero Hour.
However the Opposition MPs’ protests turned aggressive after Ms Mahajan disallowed their adjournment notice over the “barbaric and shameful” incidents of lynching.
The angry Opposition members, who had returned to their seats after the Question Hour, stormed into the Well again, tore papers and shouted anti-government slogans.
Leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge told the Chair that minority communities, Dalits and women were living in an atmospehere of terror and fear.