49 more Lok Sabha Opposition MPs suspended; total 141 suspended from Parliament so far

Further 49 MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, that reduced the strength of the opposition INDIA bloc in the House. The MPs were suspended for “unruly behaviour” and disregarding the directions of the Chair. The suspension of the 49 MPs came after 78 MPs were suspended from both the Houses of Parliament on Monday. 

The newly-suspended MPs include Congress's Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Karti Chidambaram, NCP's Supriya Sule, Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav, NCP's Farooq Abdullah, DMK's S Senthilkumar, Aam Aadmi Party's Sushil Kumar Rinku, and Trinamool Congress’ Sudip Bandhopadhyay after Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal brought the motion to suspend the MPs.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said in the Lower House that it was decided not to bring placards inside the House. He said the MPs took such steps as they lost recent elections and are in desperation. 

The total number of MPs suspended from the Parliament now stands at 141. On Monday, 46 Opposition MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha, and 45 MPs from the Rajya Sabha.

NCP head Sharad Pawar wrote to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar and asked him to address the matter. He said some MPs who were not even there have been suspended. 

Meanwhile, the government has justified these measures as necessary in order to maintain order and ensure the smooth functioning of legislative proceedings. 

The Opposition has accused the BJP of “murdering democracy” and strongly criticised the mass suspensions. The Opposition said that this is also being done so that the BJP MPs who led the December 13 intruders in are let off. 

"The Opposition is being completely decimated so that dangerous bills can be passed without any meaningful debate. This is also happening so that the BJP MPs who got the two accused admitted into the Lok Sabha on December 13 are let off. All kinds of atrocities of 'NaMocracy' are coming to light in new Parliament," said senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

BJP leader and Union Minister Piyush Goyal said that the action was necessary as the Opposition MPs insulted the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairman. 

Also read: No link between suspension of 14 MPs, Parliament security breach: Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla