Parliament Budget Session: Priyanka Gandhi slams suspension of eight MPs from Lok Sabha, says 'every member should have right to speak'

New Delhi: Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Tuesday condemned the suspension of eight opposition MPs from the Lok Sabha, asserting that every member should have the right to speak in a democracy.

The Congress MP also stated that every member's concerns should be heard in a democracy.

"This is ridiculous. In a democracy, every member should have the right to speak and their concerns should be heard," said Gandhi.


Earlier, eight opposition members were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the budget session for violating rules and "throwing papers on the chair" following an uproar in the House over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's insistence on mentioning a specific reference to the 2020 border tensions with China in eastern Ladakh.

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The House, which witnessed two adjournments earlier in the day, resumed proceedings at 3 pm and Rahul Gandhi, who is Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said that he would not refer to any magazine article about former Army Chief Gen MM Naravane's memoirs but briefly speak about Chinese action during the Kailash Range standoff.

The government has said that Rahul Gandhi cannot quote from an unpublished memoir or a magazine article based on it.

TDP MP, Krishna Prasad Tenneti, who was in the Chair, asked Rahul Gandhi to resume his speech on the motion of thanks to the President's Address and follow the ruling already given by Speaker Om Birla.

As Rahul Gandhi insisted on making his intended remarks, the Chair called other members to speak on the motion of thanks to the President's Address. However, Congress and opposition members resorted to sloganeering, which intensified after a TDP member started making his speech.

Also read: 'Violates convention': Rahul Gandhi writes to Om Birla, alleges he was stopped from speaking in Lok Sabha

Amid uproar, some members also threw papers. Later, the House was adjourned until 3 pm. When the House resumed its proceedings, BJP member Dilip Saikia, who was in the Chair, named eight opposition members. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju moved a motion to suspend the eight members for the remainder of the budget session for "violating rules and throwing papers on the chair."

The motion was adopted by the House amid protests from the opposition members.

The opposition MPs who have been suspended for the remainder of the session are Congress members Hibi Eden, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Manickam Tagore, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Prashant Yadaorao Padole, Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy, and Dean Kuriakose, and CPI-M member S. Venkatesan.