Congress leader Shashi Tharoor criticized the government for the suspension of more than 140 MPs, claiming on Wednesday that a “questionable record” had been created as so many lawmakers had not been suspended together in any country. He claimed that our entire parliamentary democracy has been “betrayed and betrayed”. reduced to a travesty”.
Speaking to reporters after participating in the opposition protest over the suspension of MPs, Tharoor, who was himself suspended on Tuesday, said that with the suspension of so many opposition MPs, the history of parliamentary democracy in our country has been 'stained' .
What has been witnessed in the country in recent days is a “mockery of parliamentary democracy,” he said.
“I did some research: never in the entire history of parliamentary democracy has a parliament in any country ever suspended or expelled 150 people. That is the dubious record being set in our parliament this week,” he said.
Everyone understands that the basic principle of parliamentary democracy is the accountability of the Council of Ministers to Parliament, Tharoor said.
“When parliament is in session, it is the duty of the government, whatever happens, to come to parliament and discuss it with them before they go out,” he said.
“When the opposition called for a discussion on the security breach and requested that the Home Minister come and speak to Parliament, as you all know, the Home Minister did not come. He gave statements outside the media, he gave interviews with the press. “, but he was not willing to speak in Parliament. This is why the opposition protested and I must say that the response is disproportionate to the actual crime of protesting,” Tharoor alleged.
The protest had a very democratic parliamentary reason: to bring in the home minister and initiate a discussion, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.
As many as 49 other Opposition lawmakers were suspended from Lok Sabha on Tuesday for unruly conduct, taking the total number of MPs contesting in both Houses of Parliament to 141 and prompting the INDIA Coalition to stage nationwide anti-government protests on Friday to announce.
Tharoor emphasized that the Opposition had come to this winter session determined to fully cooperate with the functioning of Parliament.
The opposition wanted to participate in major debates on matters of national importance, he said.
But what has unfortunately emerged is that the government has no interest in allowing the opposition to function responsibly in Parliament, he claimed.
“When we were in power, we saw how important it was to accommodate the interests of the opposition. If we had been in this position, we would have had the Home Secretary come for ten minutes, we would have had a conversation for half an hour or 45 minutes, that would have defused the situation. Instead, time has been wasted and the history of parliamentary democracy in our country has been besmirched,” he said.
“Today we leave this House feeling that our entire parliamentary democracy has been betrayed and reduced to a mockery,” Tharoor added.
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First print: December 20, 2023 | 2:31 PM IST