New Delhi: More than 18 Opposition parties marched from Parliament to Vijay Chowk to protest against the suspension of 12 lawmakers from the Rajya Sabha an issue that has already triggered daily protests inside and outside the Upper House for the past two weeks. The march, joined by Opposition leaders of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, was held on Tuesday at noon. Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi joined the opposition members in the march. While the Lok Sabha worked smoothly on Monday, Congress MPs walked out of the Rajya Sabha protesting against the continued standoff over the suspensions.
Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge said that protests will continue through different forms of Satyagraha. “We have to fight it. We have to tell the people why our people were suspended and how wrongly they have been kept out of the House. Our fight will continue and find other methods like a march or asking all political parties addressing to the press,” he said. Trinamool leader Dola Sen, one of the 12 suspended MPs protesting daily in front of the Gandhi statue, said, “We have been suspended as we wanted to raise people’s issues. In the last session, Opposition MPs were suspended three times. Yet, the government dragged the last session’s incidents to this session to stop us again from speaking in the House.”
Speaking in the House, Kharge said the Opposition has repeatedly requested the chair to reconsider the suspension of MPs accused of disrupting the proceedings on the last day of the monsoon session. As many as 12 opposition MPs were suspended from the Rajya Sabha on November 29th for the entire winter session of Parliament for their “unruly” conduct in the previous session in August.