New Delhi: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP S.R. Parthiban, who was suspended along with 13 other parliamentarians in the Lok Sabha for protesting against the security breach in Parliament, was not present in the House on Thursday (December 14).Speaking to The Wire, Parthiban said that while he was in New Delhi, he did not attend the House proceedings on Thursday.“I am in Delhi but I am not well, so I did not go to Parliament today. But yes I have been suspended,” he said.A total of 15 MPs were initially suspended on Thursday for raising slogans and protesting in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, demanding a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah on the security breach that took place in the Lok Sabha the day before.On Wednesday, December 13, two men jumped from the public gallery into the Lok Sabha hall and opened smoke canisters, causing House proceedings to be interrupted. The security breach occurred on the anniversary of the 2001 attack on the Parliament, then housed in a different building. The two who entered the Lok Sabha had received their entry passes from BJP MP Pratap Simha and shouted slogans but did not attempt to harm anyone in the hall.Parthiban’s name was read out along with 13 other MPs by parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi in the Lok Sabha. The others were Congress MPs T.N. Prathapan, Hibi Eden, S. Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose, Manickam Tagore, Benny Behanan, V.K. Sreekandan, Mohammad Jawed; CPI(M)’s P.R. Natarajan and S. Venkatesan, DMK’s Kanimozhi and K. Subbarayan of the CPI.However, later Joshi said that Parthiban’s name had been removed from the list.“After moving to the new Parliament building, a BAC (Business Advisory Committee) meeting was held and the Speaker proposed that placards will not be allowed in the House, and this was unanimously accepted. The decision of the Speaker was violated, following which 13 MPs have been suspended. One MP who was not here was also suspended. Later, it came to my notice that it was a case of mistaken identity by some of our staff that has happened and we have dropped that (name),” he told news agency Press Trust of India.VIDEO | “After moving to the new Parliament building, BAC (Business Advisory Committee) meeting was held and the Speaker proposed that placards will not be allowed, which was unanimously accepted. The decision of the Speaker was violated, following which 13 MPs have been… pic.twitter.com/XxiTsWhqfY— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 14, 2023Apart from the 13 MPs in the Lok Sabha, in Rajya Sabha TMC MP Derek O’Brien was suspended for the remainder of the session for “disrupting the proceedings of the House in utter disregard to the authority of the chair and having been named by the chair”.“Murder of democracy”The suspension of the MPs has been condemned by the opposition members, who sat in protest in the well of the Lok Sabha after the House was adjourned.15 MPs have been suspended for asking the government to be accountable for the breach of security in the Parliament. pic.twitter.com/GQEvDlYBtd— Kanimozhi (கனிமொழி) (@KanimozhiDMK) December 14, 2023Leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress MP Mallikarjun Kharge said that the suspension of the MPs was a “suspension of democracy.”“Is it a crime to urge the Union home minister to make a statement in the House? Is it a crime to want a discussion on the perilous security breach? Does it not invoke draconian shades of dictatorship, a hallmark of the present dispensation?” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).Congress MP K.C. Venugopal said that on one hand, MPs are suspended for “demanding accountability” while there is no action against the BJP MP who “facilitated the entry of the miscreants.”A horrible, undemocratic move to suspend opposition MPs for demanding an answer from the Government on the shocking security breach in Parliament yesterday. On the one hand, MPs are suspended for demanding accountability, while on the other, there is no action against the BJP MP…— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) December 14, 2023 “This is a murder of democracy. The BJP government has reduced Parliament to a rubber stamp. Not even the pretence of a democratic process is left,” he said.Addressing a press conference, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said that while party MP Mahua Moitra had been expelled for sharing her parliament login details, Simha was not facing any action for providing passes to those who entered parliament with smoke canisters.“Instead along with our party’s Derek O’Brien, 14 other MPs were suspended for protesting against the lapse of security. What kind of rule of law is this?” he asked.Tamil Nadu chief minister M.K. Stalin said that the suspension of the MPs shows the “intolerance attitude of the BJP”.Suspension of 15 Opposition MPs, including DMK MP @KanimozhiDMK is undemocratic and undermines the spirit of Parliamentary democracy.The intolerant attitude of the BJP-led Union Govt is condemnable.Is crushing MPs’ freedom of expression the new norm in our Parliament? Why… pic.twitter.com/8XTA0xnZzX— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) December 14, 2023“The intolerant attitude of the BJP-led Union Govt is condemnable. Is crushing MPs’ freedom of expression the new norm in our Parliament? Why are people’s representatives punished for seeking answers on a major security breach in our temple of democracy?” he said on X.Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur told ANI, “The prime minister and home minister are unable to face people. They are in hiding…Nothing is being said about taking any action against the MP on behalf of whom the passes were issued.”“Our MPs, who want to raise this issue seriously and are demanding their statements, are being sent out. This is BJP’s nature. They try to mislead people. But they will have to take responsibility for the security failure. The home minister should resign and the MP who is involved in the matter should have his membership of Parliament cancelled,” he said.#WATCH | Parliament security breach | Jharkhand Congress president Rajesh Thakur says, “PM and HM are unable to face people. They are in hiding…Nothing is being said about taking any action against the MP on behalf of whom the passes were issued. Our MPs, who want to raise this… pic.twitter.com/2NZ3bkJPax— ANI (@ANI) December 14, 2023Though the opposition demanded Shah’s statement, both defence minister Rajnath Singh and Joshi termed the incident as “unfortunate”.Joshi also listed other instances during the Emergency when such incidents took place and asked the opposition members not to “politicise” the issue.
