47 MPs including Adhir Chowdhury suspended so far, Opp terms it 'heights of tyranny'

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, along with several other Opposition MPs, was suspended from the Lok Sabha on Monday for the remainder of the winter session. This brings the total number of suspended lawmakers today to 33. In total, 47 Opposition MPs have been suspended from both houses of Parliament so far.

While the Opposition called the suspension “heights of tyranny”, the ruling BJP claimed the suspension follows disruptions caused by Opposition MPs protesting the Parliament security breach incident.

Chowdhury's fellow Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, DMK MPs TR Balu and Dayanidhi Maran, and the TMC's Saugata Roy are among those suspended.

The proposal for suspension was presented by parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi in the House, and was later adopted by a voice vote.

Expressing his views on the suspension, Chowdhury stated, "All leaders, including myself, have been suspended. For days, we have been demanding the reinstatement of our MPs who were suspended earlier and for the home minister to come to the house and give a statement on the Parliament security breach." He further characterised the government's actions as "tyranny".

"Union home minister Amit Shah is afraid of speaking inside Parliament. Under his watch, this temple of democracy was attacked, and he cannot avoid scrutiny forever," said Gogoi.

Of the suspended MPs, 31 were suspended for the entirety of the Winter Session, while three--K Jayakumar, Vijay Vasanth, and Abdul Khaleque--were suspended pending the report of the Privileges Committee.

It is noteworthy that on 14 December, a day after the security breach, 13 Lok Sabha MPs and one Rajya Sabha MP had been suspended for "unruly conduct" in Parliament.

Also among the suspended MPs are Manickam Tagore, Kanimozhi, PR Natrajan, VK Sreekandan, Benny Bahanan, K Subramanyam, S Venkatesan, and Mohammad Jawed from the Lok Sabha, while Derek O'Brien from the Trinamool Congress is the sole MP suspended from the Rajya Sabha.