New Delhi, Aug 23 (PTI) Trinamool Congress leaders have written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alleging Murshidabad MP Abu Taher Khan was pushed by Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu on Wednesday during the introduction of the bills for the removal of jailed ministers.
According to a source, in a letter dated August 21, TMC Lok Sabha Deputy Leader Satabdi Roy and MP Mahua Moitra wrote that the Murshidabad MP was pushed without provocation while he was standing close to the Well of the House.
The lawmakers also said they were exercising their right to protest while the bills were being introduced, but they were rendered “helpless by the throttling.” On Wednesday, tempers flared in the Lok Sabha, copies of bills were torn and flung, as TMC MPs charged towards Home Minister Amit Shah, when he introduced the three draft laws for the removal of the prime minister, chief ministers, and ministers arrested on serious criminal charges.
In their letter, the TMC leaders said that as elected representatives, they were duty-bound to raise the voice of the people, and accused the government of bypassing all parliamentary rules and norms in bringing the Constitution (One Hundred and Twentieth) Amendment Bill, 2025.
They alleged that during the protest, Taher, who had been in a hospital for months, was standing at the edge of the Well of the House when Bittu “forcefully and violently” pushed him.
“It was during this protest that our Hon’ble colleague Sh Abu Taher was standing at the edge of the Well. He is a Member who has been through a serious illness recently which required months of hospitalization and this is a fact that most of our Hon’ble colleagues, including on the Treasury Benches, are well aware of,” they said in the letter.
“It was, therefore, shocking when we saw Hon’ble Union Minister Sh Ravneet Singh Bittu forcefully and violently pushing Sh Abu Taher. It was an unprovoked attack by the Hon’ble Minister against a colleague who is still recovering from a serious illness,” the TMC MPs claimed.
They also said Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju was standing behind Bittu, “egging and provoking his colleagues to attack the protesting MPs from the Opposition.” “This unprovoked aggression put us in a state of fear for our safety until our colleague Hon’ble MP Sh Yusuf Pathan stood between us and the aggressive Hon’ble Ministers in order to protect us,” the MPs said, and urged the Speaker to take the “strictest” action.
During the Wednesday pandemonium, Trinamool leader Kalyan Banerjee tried to tug at the microphone in front of Shah and shout slogans into it. Other leaders from the party tore the bill and flung its bits in Shah’s face.
BJP members charged towards the opposition MPs who were in the Well, with Bittu rushing to the aisle and Rijiju moving to stand next to Shah, gesturing to the opposition members to step back. PTI AO VN VN
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