Three more Rajya Sabha Members suspended for this week

New Delhi, July 28: Amid an uproar in the Rajya Sabha by Opposition parties, three more Members of Parliament — Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Sandeep Kumar Pathak and Sushil Kumar Gupta and Independent legislator Ajit Kumar Bhuyan — were suspended from the House on Thursday.

This comes a day after AAP’s Sanjay Singh was suspended for the remaining part of the week for his “unruly behaviour” in the House. On Tuesday, 19 more MPs of the Opposition, including seven from the TMC, six from the DMK, besides those from the TRS, CPI-M and CPI, were suspended for the same reason. Additionally, four Congress MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the rest of the Monsoon Session as well.

The 20 suspended Rajya Sabha MPs are on a 50-hour-long relay protest near the Gandhi Statue at the Parliament, targeting the Centre over the gridlock in the House. Since the session began on July 18, the Opposition has been demanding a discussion on issues such as inflation, GST on essential items, and LPG price hike. With Parliament in limbo over the protests and suspensions, Opposition leaders have taken to social media to lash out at the BJP-led government, labelling it “dictatorial” and claiming that it is afraid.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the MP from Wayanad in Kerala, tweeted, “Why cylinder Rs 1053? Why GST on curd-cereals? Why Mustard Oil Rs 200? The ‘Raja’ arrested 57 MPs and suspended 23 MPs for asking questions on inflation and unemployment. The ‘king’ is afraid of questions in the temple of democracy, but we know how to fight dictators.”

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted on Tuesday, “With the suspension of Opposition MPs from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, it is abundantly clear that Modi Sarkar is in no mood to allow the Opposition to raise REAL, URGENT issues being faced by the people of our country in Parliament.”

Meanwhile, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi responded to the Opposition’s attacks, saying, “We have been maintaining that the government is ready for discussion on price rise and today Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman resumed her office after recovering from Covid. Their suspension can be revoked by the Chair if they apologise and assure that they will not again bring placards into the House.”

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