New Delhi: The BJP mounted Friday counter-protests outside Parliament where 12 suspended opposition members of Rajya Sabha have been on a sit-in demonstration against the action on them. There were some tense moments as BJP members, carrying placards, marched towards the opposition members near the Gandhi statue in Parliament premises. The BJP lawmakers were condemning the ‘undemocratic actions’ of the suspended MPs inside the House. “We are here to highlight the duplicity of the opposition parties,” BJP member GVL Narsimha Rao said.
The issue also figured in both houses of Parliament when opposition leaders complained about ‘hooting’ by BJP members to the presiding officers.
In Rajya Sabha, RJD MP Manoj Jha said BJP members ‘gatecrashed’ the site in Parliament complex where the 12 suspended members were staging a demonstration. In the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed the BJP members hooted the opposition members near the Gandhi statue.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal refuted Chowdhury’s claims. He asserted that BJP members also have the right to protest at the Gandhi statue. “BJP members were protesting against the opposition members who had assaulted security officials inside parliament,” Meghwal said.
BJP members also carried out a march from Gandhi statue to the statue of Babasaheb Ambedkar within Parliament premises raising slogans to save democracy.
The 12 opposition MPs were suspended Monday from the Rajya Sabha for the entire Winter Session of Parliament for their ‘unruly’ conduct in the previous session in August. The Opposition has termed the suspension as ‘undemocratic and in violation of all the Rules of Procedure’ of the Upper House.
The suspended MPs include six from the Congress, two each from the Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena, and one each from the CPI and CPI(M). They have been holding day-long protests in front of the Gandhi statue inside the Parliament complex and have decided to continue to do so every day till their suspension is revoked.
