From cries about ‘murder of democracy’ to bemoaning ‘opposition-mukt Parliament’ to charges of disruption and unruly behaviour, the week of 146 MPs' suspension put ‘democracy slide’ back in public debate.
Opposition MPs sought to politicise the issue of security breach in Parliament. But Modi govt could have handled the sensitive security breach in a more refined manner.
MPs Thomas Chazhikadan & A.M. Ariff were suspended Wednesday. Oppn is demanding a statement in the House by Home Minister Amit Shah, while govt says detailed probe should suffice.
The suspension of 12 Maharashtra BJP MLAs in 2021 was as unjustified as the suspension of 141 opposition MPs now. The existence of the Speaker's power under the Lok Sabha rules does not guarantee the constitutionality of their exercise.
Today's suspensions from Lok Sabha take total tally of both Houses to 141 in less than a week. 48% of opposition MPs in Lok Sabha & 32% in Rajya Sabha suspended.
Congress MP told privileges panel he didn't intend to 'insult or hurt' anyone, it is learnt. Motion that led to his suspension was moved after PM’s response to Oppn’s no-confidence motion.
DMK govt accuses Centre of withholding funds, tightening borrowing, unilateral deductions from state accounts. Says Centre's accounting & funding decisions have 'artificially inflated' debt burden.
This is the game every nation is now learning to play. Some are finding new allies or seeing value among nations where they’d seen marginal interest. The starkest example is India & Europe.
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