Security breach and after: Suspended Opposition MPs count now stands at 92

Terming it a blatant murder of democracy, leaders of Opposition parties including the Congress slammed the Central government over the suspension of 78 members of Parliament (MPs) on Monday, 18 December during the ongoing winter session, taking the total number of suspended MPs since 15 December to 92. While 33 MPs were suspended in the Lok Sabha, 45 were suspended in the Rajya Sabha.

In addition, the duration of suspension of three other Lok Sabha Congress MPs — K. Jayakumar, Abdul Khaleque, and Vijay Vasanth — will be determined by the Privileges Committee, while the suspension of 11 other MPs was referred to the Privileges Committee for the same reason.

In a post on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, “With an Opposition-less Parliament, the Modi Govt can now bulldoze important pending legislations, crush any dissent, without any debate. All Democratic norms are being thrown into the dustbin by an autocratic Modi Govt by suspending 47 MPs.”

Most of the MPs have been suspended for reportedly disrupting Parliament proceedings in the aftermath of last week's security breach which saw two individuals — Manoranjan D and Sagar Sharma — jump into the Lok Sabha chamber from an upstairs visitors' gallery and hurl smoke bombs before being overpowered by MPs.

Manoranjan was subsequently found to be close to Mysuru-Kodagu (Coorg) BJP MP Pratap Simha, and the passes used by the two men to gain access to the visitors' gallery were found to bear Simha's signature.

Speaking on the same issue, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier told The Indian Express, “This is a mockery of democracy. This is a very bad case… She (party MP Mahua Moitra, the first to be expelled) was not allowed to defend herself. Opposition leaders are suspended when they put forth their views, but it’s all good for the BJP members."

Earlier in the day, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking “four days” to react to the security breach issue and requested him to speak in Parliament.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said it was a bloodbath in the Rajya Sabha, with 45 INDIA party MPs getting suspended for demanding home minister Amit Shah's statement on the security breach.

In a post on X, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said, "It is only insecurity that prevents the Home Minister from speaking inside Parliament on a matter of national security. Amit Shah does not want his failure in gathering intelligence on the breach inside Parliament to go on the record."

On 16 December, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla had said a high-level probe was already looking into the security breach and some of the suggestions put forth by Opposition MPs had been implemented, while others would also be looked into.

“It is sad that politics is being done on this. To enter the well of the house and do sloganeering and disrupt the proceedings is against the dignity of the house,” Birla said.