Union minister Piyush Goyal asked the suspended parliamentarians to apologise for their alleged misconduct on Tuesday and highlighted that the unruly MPs almost attacked the Chair, caused damage to the Parliament and attacked female marshals.
Goyal was referring to the final day of the Monsoon Session when opposition MPs allegedly entered the well and continued sloganeering over passage of bills without discussion. A committee on Monday suspended twelve MPs for their unruly behaviour on the last day of the monsoon session.
“I want to bring your attention to the last day of the session. That day some MPs attacked women marshals, some attacked male marshals. They stood firm. We shudder to think what could have happened to the Chair,” Goyal said.
“Considering that they also filmed and showed what happened in Parliament on YouTube, we suggested that a committee be formed to deal with it. However, many opposition parties refused to be a part of the committee. Their contention that such a panel can only work when house is in session is wrong, as the House is constant, so it is the House’ decision to suspend. They can make a mistake but they should apologise as everyone can make a mistake,” Goyal further added.
He also pointed out that the Opposition did not let Prime Minister Narendra Narendra Modi introduce new ministers of his Cabinet and showed disregard to the large number of women candidates being inducted. “The entire country witnessed how badly the protestors behaved when minister Ashwini Vaishnaw was speaking in the House,” he said.
Both houses of the Parliament which are in session saw repeated adjournments over the past two days. The opposition parties boycotted the Parliament proceedings over the suspension of the MPs, terming the decision ‘undemocratic’.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also urged Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to revoke the suspension but Naidu said that it may not be possible without proper functioning of the House and if the opposition MPs do not show sincere regret for their misconduct.
The following MPs were suspended for unruly conduct – Elamaram Kareem (Communist Party of India (Marxist)CPI (M)), Phulo Devi Netam (Indian National Congress (INC)), Chhaya Verma (INC), Ripun Bora(INC), Binoy Viswam (Communist Party of India (CPI)), Rajamani Patel (INC), Dola Sen (Trinamool Congress), Shanta Chhetri (TMC), Syed Nasir Hussain(INC), Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena), Anil Desai (Shiv Sena) and Akhilesh Prasad Singh (INC).
