A day after 78 MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha marking a new record, another 49 MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha on Tuesday brining the total number of suspensions to 141. This comes as the Opposition continued its intense protest against the Centre. The new batch of MPs who were suspended included Shashi Tharoor, V Vaithilingam, Supriya Sule, Farooq Abdullah, Danish Ali, Karti Chidambaram, Dimple Yadav, Manish Tewari, Mala Roy, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Jasbir Gill, DNV Senthilkumar, Santhosh, Rajeev Ranjan Singh, Santhosh Kumar, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, Ravneet Singh Bittu among others.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, while moving a motion for the suspension accused the protesting Opposition members of being "frustrated" over the recent defeat in the assembly elections in which the BJP won three of the five states.
"INDIA bloc MPs have been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach in Parliament on December 13. They had agreed not to bring placards. They are frustrated with their loss, so taking such steps. These people will not come back in the House next time if this behaviour continues," Joshi said.
"They are insulting the chair and the people of India by bringing placards," he said.
The suspension spree has kept Parliament on the boil as the opposition claimed that the Centre wanted to get rid of the opposition in the house to be able to pass legislation without any resistance. Speaking on the latest development, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal criticised the Centre and said they wanted to make Parliament a graveyard of democracy. She said, "I have no words. What did they think before constructing this new Parliament building? They want to make this the graveyard of democracy...You have thrown out the entire Opposition. No action has been taken against the MP who issued passes (to the security breach accused). A new rule is being set for the new Parliament - have sleeping pills and come here as you are not allowed to open your mouth and ask questions..."
Meanwhile, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, also a part of the 49 MPs suspended today said it's time to 'start writing obituaries for Parliamentary Democracy'. He said, "It is clear that they want an Opposition-mukt Lok Sabha and they will do something similar in Rajya Sabha. At this point, unfortunately, we have to start writing obituaries for Parliamentary democracy in India...Today, in solidarity with my colleagues, I too joined the protest and everybody present has been suspended for the rest of the session which means they want to pass their Bills without any discussion. I think it is a betrayal of Parliamentary democracy."