'Were Attacked, Manhandled By Delhi Police': Protesting UDF MPs From Kerala In Lok Sabha
Terming the incident ‘unfortunate’, RSP member NK Premchand said the police were aware that those taking part in the agitation were MPs, but still they were not allowed inside Parliament complex.
New Delhi: United Democratic Front (UDF) MPs from Kerala alleged that they were ‘attacked and manhandled’ by the Delhi police on Thursday during their protest against the proposed silver line rail corridor project by the Kerala government.
Raising this issue in Lok Sabha soon after the Question Hour, Congress member K Suresh said that a total of 12 MPs, including women parliamentarians, had started their protest march from Vijay Chowk at 10.45 am on Thursday when the Delhi police personnel came and ‘blocked them without any provocation’.
"We told them we were MPs. They (police) said you (protesting MPs) are shouting slogans. We said it is our right to shout slogans. They assaulted us, manhandled us, pushed us without any provocation," news agency PTI quoted Suresh as telling the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
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Terming the incident ‘unfortunate’, RSP member NK Premchand said that the police personnel were fully aware that those taking part in the agitation were MPs, but still they were not allowed inside the Parliament complex.
"This is a question of our privilege. They even came to the precincts of Parliament and prevented us," Premchand said, adding, "What is the authority of Delhi police to forcibly prevent the MPs from entering Parliament."
Raising the matter in the Rajya Sabha, Congress member KC Venugopal said that when the UDF MPs were returning to the Parliament after their peaceful demonstration, Delhi Police ‘stopped and manhandled them’, including a woman MP.
Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu have asked the Congress member to provide the details of the incident and said that he would take it up with the Home Ministry.
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Meanwhile, after the members raised the issue, the Speaker said that he will discuss the matter with them and then speak to the officers concerned.
It is to be noted that the silver line rail project of the CPI(M)-led government in Kerala has been facing massive protests over the survey and marking of the corridor boundary and is embroiled in a political controversy.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan have also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Thursday.
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