Opposition leaders are reacting to the suspension of as many as 15 MPs after they disrupted proceedings, demanding a statement from the government on Wednesday’s security breach.
The Congress party termed the suspension as the “murder of democracy", alleging that the BJP government has reduced Parliament to a "rubber stamp".
On Wednesday, two persons jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the public gallery during Zero Hour, and released yellow smoke from canisters. The entry of the accused into the parliament was authorised by BJP MP Pratap Simha.
The Mysuru MP is believed to have known one of the miscreants, Manoranjan D who would often visit Simha in his office in Mysuru and had been pursuing him for the parliament pass for three months.
Opposition party leaders have been calling for action to be taken against Simha along with a detailed statement by the Home Minister.
What are the Opposition MPs saying?
President of INC, Mallikarjun Kharge took to X to call out the move to suspend opposition MPs. “The suspension of 15 opposition MPs from the Parliament because they wanted a discussion on the grave security breach is SUSPENSION OF DEMOCRACY !” his post read.
TMC’s Kunal Ghosh said, “Mahua Moitra was expelled for sharing password but no action against MP who issued passes to intruders.”
While suspended BSP MP, Danish Ali said, “Why's Parliament differentiating between "pass" and "password"?
Speaking to PTI, MP Kapil Sibal said, “If they don't need the opposition, they should suspend everybody, because they don't want any questions to be asked. We have been saying that the Home Minister should come and explain the situation; tell the people of this country that we all will be safe and take action against the gentleman who gave these two permission to jump into the House.”
"The Home Minister is not ready to give a statement in the Parliament on the security lapses. The 15 MPs were suspended for demanding a discussion on the security breach, but no action is being taken against Pratap Simha," Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said.
The spate of suspensions started when TMC Rajya Sabha Mp Derek O’Brein was suspended this morning for raising slogans demanding Amit Shah to make a statement over the security breach.
Derek O' Brien was later seen in the Parliament premises with a “silent protest” sign in his hands.
