Eight Congress MPs suspended from Lok Sabha as dispute over Rahul Gandhi quoting ex-Army chief escalates

New Delhi: Eight Congress MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha for remainder of the budget session on Tuesday as the stalemate between the government and the Opposition continued on the second consecutive day over leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's insistence on quoting from the unpublished book of former Army chief MM Naravane.

Parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiju moved the motion for suspension of Hibi Eden, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Kiran Kumar Reddy, Prashant Padole, S Venkataraman and Dean Kuriakose after they tore papers and flung them towards Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the Chair. The House was adjourned for the day after the motion.

Earlier, the Lok Sabha witnessed adjournments as the Opposition demanded that Gandhi be allowed to quote from Naravane's unpublished memoir. When the House met, Gandhi moved a magazine article after authenticating it and sought permission to quote from it. Tenneti asked him to table it and said the chair will take note of it. But Gandhi continued, "As I said yesterday that I want to bring up a very important matter, the matter of national security and the relationship between us and the Chinese and the Pakistanis... It speaks about the reaction of the prime minister..." Tenneti asked Gandhi to stick to the President's speech.


However, Gandhi said, "If the issue is about me quoting a magazine which I have authenticated, I am happy not to quote it directly. I should be allowed to speak about it." To which Tenneti said, "You have been given permission to speak about the President's speech." The word "permission" triggered the Opposition and Gandhi said, "You cannot give me permission to speak, sir. I am the leader of the Opposition. It is my right."

Tenneti clarified, "Under Rule 349, the Speaker has given a ruling. If you don't want the leader of the Opposition to speak, then I will have to give the opportunity to others to speak." Gandhi said, "I am objecting to the word 'permission'... Today on the world stage the main issue in international affairs is the conflict between China and the United States. This is central to our President's address. This is central to our budget and all I am saying is I want to make a statement about what happened between India and China and how our PM reacted to it. Why am I being stopped? In Eastern Ladakh, there was a conflict. Our soldiers were killed." At this point, Tenneti said, "I have repeatedly asked the leader of Opposition to speak on the presidential address. Now Naresh Uttam Patelji." With this, Tenneti called out the next names on the list of speakers.