Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh was on Wednesday suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the rest of the week for showing “unruly behaviour” in the House, PTI reported.
Deputy Chairman of the Upper House Harivansh said that the AAP legislator was suspended for shouting slogans, tearing papers and throwing them toward the Chair on Tuesday, ANI reported.
The AAP MP said that he had repeatedly urged the government to respond on why deaths linked to spurious liquor took place in Gujarat despite manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol being banned in the state. At least 30 people have died this week in Gujarat after consuming spurious liquor.
“I have been suspended, but I will continue to raise the issue of hooch-related deaths in Gujarat,” Singh said. “The AAP will continue to raise its voices on fundamental concerns of citizens in Parliament as well as on the streets.”
Singh is the 24th Opposition MP to have been suspended during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.
On Monday, four Congress Lok Sabha MPs were suspended for the entire Monsoon Session for carrying placards while protesting inside the House. A day later, 19 Opposition MPs were suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the rest of the week for repeatedly disrupting the House proceedings.
The Opposition has been staging protests since the start of the Monsoon Session on July 18 and demanding discussion on inflation and the tax increases on several goods and services.
Meanwhile, both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till 2 pm on Wednesday amid protests by the Opposition parties. Several members of the Opposition protested outside Parliament as well.
Twenty Opposition legislators who were suspended from the Rajya Sabha this week began a 50-hour-long protest at the Parliament, PTI reported.
Earlier on Wedensday, Opposition MPs held protests outside Parliament demanding that the suspension of their colleagues be revoked.
“When the Opposition voice is suppressed, there is no option but to raise slogans, said Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP Tiruchi Siva, ANI reported.
Congress MP Deepender Hooda said that MPs were being suspended for raising matters of importance.
“During protests, our members are detained and taken to police lines,” he said. “If MPs belong at police lines, then why is a new Parliament being constructed here.”
On Wednesday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said that the Rajya Sabha chairman can revoke the suspension of the Opposition MPs if they apologise. “We have been maintaining that the government is ready for discussion on price rise and today Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman resumed her office after recovering from Covid,” he said.
Joshi said that discussion on the matter could begin on Wednesday itself if that was what the Opposition wanted.
Ahead of the beginning of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat had issued a circular on July 14 banning demonstrations, dharnas, strikes, and fast or religious ceremonies by MPs in the precincts of Parliament.
The directive held significance as over the last few sessions of Parliament, Opposition leaders had held protests on the premises of the House on many matters of national importance to pressurise the government to discuss them.
In November, 12 Opposition MPs were suspended from the Rajya Sabha on the first day of the Winter Session for their “unruly and violent” conduct during the previous Monsoon Session held in August.
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