Suspension of 13 MPs: "BJP leaders making India a banana republic," says Congress MP KC Venugopal
Dec 14, 2023
New Delhi [India], December 14 : Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the suspension of 13 MPs from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of Parliament's winter session, Congress MP KC Venugopal on Thursday said that these people are making India a banana republic.
The Congress leader also called the suspension of 13 MPs from the Parliament a "clear hypocritical attitude of the government".
"This is a clear hypocritical attitude of this government. On one side, a very big breach of security happened in the Parliament and the person responsible for this is sitting in the House MP Pratap Simha, who had recommended allowing these people entry into the House. On the other hand, the MPs who are demanding a reply from the government have been suspended. It is now becoming a banana republic, these BJP people are making India a banana republic," Venugopal told ANI.
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Choudhary also reacted to the suspension of MPs from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of Parliament's winter session and demanded the Home Minister (Amit Shah) to come to the House and give a statement.
"At least the Home Minister should come to the House and give a statement. If we (the opposition) are given a chance to ask 2-4 questions we will do that. We participate in the House and present our views. We did not disrupt the proceedings of the House even for a single day," he said.
Hitting out at the BJP, the Congress leader said, "The House is not the party office of the BJP. The house belongs to all of us. These people (BJP) are doing whatever they want. Don't we have the right to make any demand?... When we make demands, we are not given the mike..."
Meanwhile, a total of 13 MPs were suspended from the Parliament on Thursday "for creating a ruckus" in the House over their demand for a statement on the breach.
Earlier, 14 MPs were suspended, but later Pralhad Joshi clarified that one member was mistakenly included in the list of MPs suspended.
Following his clarification, a formal request was made to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to exclude one member, who wasn't present at the Well of the Lower House during the disruption, from the list of suspended MPs.
The number of suspended lawmakers was, thus, revised to 13 from 14 as was erroneously mentioned earlier.
The motion for suspension of nine opposition MPs - Benny Behanan, VK Sreekandan, Mohammad Jawed, PR Natarajan, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, K Subrahmanyam, SR Parthiban, S Venkatesan and Manickam Tagore - was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.
The MPs were suspended soon after the House met at 3 pm following its adjournment earlier. The House was later adjourned for the day.
The opposition has been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah.
Meanwhile, the Patiala House Court granted 7-day custody to four accused persons arrested in connection with the security breach in Parliament to Delhi Police's Special Cell.
A case has been registered against the accused under multiple relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in the Parliament Security breach incident, police said on Thursday.
