Deliberate design by BJP to throttle Opposition's voice in Parliament: Adhir Ranjan on his suspension

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was suspended on Thursday, said that the suspension of MPs from the Parliament was becoming a 'new phenomenon' and eroding 'Parliamentary democracy'.

Following his suspension on the second last day of the Monsoon Session, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday alleged that there is a "deliberate design" by the BJP to "throttle" the voice of the Opposition, while indicating that he may even approach the Supreme Court to overturn the action against him if it is feasible.

Addressing a press conference, Chowdhury said his suspension was a "retrogressive step" by the BJP and referred to the suspension of three other Opposition MPs as a "new phenomenon".

There is a deliberate design by the ruling party to throttle the voice of the Opposition by resorting to various unsavoury instruments which should not be applied to me...I must say that I cannot contradict the direction of the Chair. But if I find that this kind of situation could be resolved by courts, I may try it.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Chowdhury was suspended from the Lok Sabha on Thursday for "repeated misconduct" pending an investigation by the privileges committee. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had moved a resolution for his suspension.

The Congress leader said he was holding consultations on whether to take the legal route. "With all humility at my command, I can say that I did not have even a remote objective to disparage or tarnish anyone whosoever in Parliament," he said.

Chowdhury also attacked Modi, saying the Prime Minister speaks on everything but on the Manipur issue, about which he is "nirav".

"The word 'nirav' means silent. My intention was not to insult PM Modi," he said, adding if anything unparliamentary was said, the Speaker had the right to expunge it.

"But, I do not know why for one or two words, which were misconstrued by them as offensive, the BJP may have protested to the Speaker as per the rules and got those words expunged...Naturally, it is very precarious. Retrogressive steps are being taken by the government. These kinds of retrogressive steps will certainly undermine the spirit of Parliamentary democracy," he said.

On Manipur, Chowdhury said that the Opposition pleaded with Modi to acknowledge the gravity of the situation in the state and to speak about it in the House.

"The Prime Minister kept on avoiding us and then we brought a no-confidence motion as the last option because of which the PM came and spoke in the house," he said.

He said Home Minister Amit Shah informed the House that in Manipur the government has deployed security forces in the buffer zone and he himself admitted that the situation has worsened.