NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has withdrawn the suspension of all seven Congress MPs.
The Seven Congress MPs- Gaurav Gogoi, TN Prathapan, Manickam Tagore, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Benny Behanan, Rajmohan Unnithan and Adv. Dean Kuriakose were suspended from parliament last week for disrupting the proceedings of the house. They had been suspended for creating ruckus in the House and snatching papers from the speaker's table.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi had said that snatching papers from the Speaker’s table are of utmost disrespect to the Chair. “The membership of those who snatched papers from the Chair should be terminated,” Joshi said.
The MPs were suspended after a scuffle broke out between members of BJP and Congress a few days ago.
Members of both parties pushed and shoved each other. Members of opposition started shouting slogans from the well and went into the area of treasury benches. They wanted the resignation of Home Minister Amit Shah over Delhi violence. The opposition party members were also carrying black banners.
The proceedings of Lok Sabha were interrupted and later on the speaker Om Birla had to call different parties for a meeting to restore peace and order in the house after the disturbance in the house.
The Congress, on the other hand, vehemently criticized the Speaker for such a decision.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury called it " revenge politics". Chowdhury and other Congress leaders had demanded the withdrawal of the suspension of the seven MPs . “This is the government’s decision, not the Speaker’s decision. What kind of dictatorship is this,” he said. The government doesn't want the Delhi violence issue to be taken as a matter of discussion in the Parliament and hence the suspension, said Chowdhury.
Gaurav Gogoi, among the suspended seven MPs, had tweeted, " Suspend us for a year, but discuss the Delhi riots and heal the wounds of people.”