Nineteen Opposition MPs suspended for ruckus in Rajya Sabha

Nineteen Opposition MPs -- seven from Trinamool Congress, six from DMK, three from TRS, two from CPI(M) and one from CPI -- were on Tuesday suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the entire week for showing "utter disregard" to the House and authority of the Chair by disrupting the proceedings.

The latest suspension came as the MPs were demanding an immediate discussion on price rise and rushed into the Well of the House after Deputy Chairman Harivansh decided to continue the discussion on The Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022. On Monday, four Congress MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha for the remainder of session.

This is the highest number of suspension in a single stroke as the previous record was the unprecedented action taken on the first day of the last year's Winter session in November against 12 MPs for their protests in the Monsoon session in August. A 13th MP, Derek O'Brien, was suspended on the last day of that session, while seven MPs were suspended for "unruly" behaviour during the passage of farm laws in the Monsoon session of 2020.

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Opposition leaders condemned the suspension with Congress' Jairam Ramesh saying that the Narendra Modi government was in no mood to allow the Opposition to raise "real, urgent" issues and Trinamool Congress' Derek O'Brien saying that the democracy has been suspended in the country and Parliament has been turned into a "deep, dark chamber".

Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha Piyush Goyal said the decision to suspend the MPs was taken with a "heavy heart" as they repeatedly ignored the Chair's appeals to let the House function and infringed on other members' rights. He alleged the Opposition was running away from a debate while asserting that the government is ready for a discussion once Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman fully recovers from Covid-19.

It was trouble from the word go as the proceedings started at 2 pm with the Opposition MPs demanding the discussion on price rise. Senior Opposition leaders like Samajwadi Party's Ramgopal Yadav, Trinamool's Derek O'Brien and others demanded the suspension of business to discuss the issue.

However, Harivansh went ahead with the debate on the Bill. As Opposition MPs rushed to the Well of the House displaying placards and shouting slogans, Harivansh warned them that he would name them but the Opposition MPs did not budge.

As the protest continued, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion to suspend 10 MPs, but when it was adopted by a voice vote, Harivansh read out the names of 19 members who have been suspended for the rest of the week. O'Brien demanded a division of votes but it was not allowed with Harivansh saying the House was not in order.

After the motion was adopted, Harivansh asked the suspended MPs to leave the House but the MPs, including Trinamool's Sushmita Dev and Dola Sen, CPI(M)'s A A Rahim and Dr V Sivadasan and CPI's P Sandosh Kumar, but they did not budge, leading to adjournments.

Suspended MPs

Trinamool Congress – Sushmita Dev, Mausam Noor, Shanta Chhetri, Dola Sen, Santanu Sen, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Nadiumal Haque

DMK – M Mohamed Abdulla, Kanimozhi NVN Somu, M Shanmugam, S Kalyanasundaram, R Girirajan, N R Elango

TRS – B Lingaiah Yadav, Ravichandra Vaddiraju, Damodar Rao Divakonda

CPI(M) – Dr V Sivadasan, A A Rahim

CPI – P Sandosh Kumar