Parliament security breach: SR Parthiban's suspension revoked after Danish Ali says one MP 'was not even present'

Several Members of Parliament reacted to their suspension from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and expressed the views that the government was in haste and unjust manner suspended them when they raised the question of security breach in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. 

BJP MP Prathap Simha, on whose authorisation passes were issued to two persons who jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber on Wednesday in a major security breach, knew one of the accused as he hailed from his constituency Mysuru and he would come to Simha's office very often, sources said.

Meanwhile, the motion for suspension of eight opposition MPs - Benny Behanan, VK Sreekandan, Mohammad Jawed, PR Natarajan, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, K Subrahmanyam, S Venkatesan and Manickam Tagore - was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.

Earlier, SR Parthiban of the DMK name was also included in the list but was later revoked after he was mistakenly suspended.

Several MPs have reacted to the decision of their suspension from the Parliament

On the suspension of 14 MPs from Parliament, MP Danish Ali said, “...This included one such MP who was not even present in the House. He too was suspended. God knows how is this country running...”

On her suspension from Lok Sabha for the remainder of the winter session, DMK MP Kanimozhi Karunanidhi says, “There is an MP who has actually given the passes for these (accused of Parliament security breach) people to come in. No action has been taken against that MP. Whereas we saw what happened in Mahua's case. Without even the inquiry being complete, she has been disqualified and this MP is not even suspended. He's inside Parliament with us. And when we protested and we want the PM and the Home Minister to come and give a statement in the House, they're not prepared to do that. And when we protested, they are suspending all the opposition MPs. First suspended five, then they suspended nine people. So how is this democracy?...”

On suspension of 15 MPs from the House, Congress MP Abdul Khaleque said, "They didn't suspend the one who should they have, pass was issued by a BJP MP. We demanded that it should be condemned and the Home Minister should answer in the House, he should take moral responsibility...They won't be able to stifle the Opposition's voice by suspending them...Today's government is a failure. The Home Minister should take responsibility and resign...How can the country be secure if the Parliament isn't?..."

On his suspension from the Lok Sabha, Congress MP Manickam Tagore said, "Our only demand was that the Home Minister Amit Shah must come to Parliament and make a statement on yesterday's security breach in Parliament. For that, MPs were suspended. It shows the mentality of this Government. This Government's mentality is becoming like the Hitler Raj of Germany which is not ready to hear and answer the questions of Opposition parties...INDIA Alliance will meet tomorrow morning and leaders will decide what has to be done. We are united and have a genuine demand that the Home Minister must come to the Parliament, make a statement first and then answer the queries of the Opposition..."

The MPs were suspended soon after the House met at 3 pm following its adjournment earlier. The House was later adjourned for the day.

Earlier, five Congress members were suspended from Lok Sabha for "unruly behaviour" for the remainder of the winter session.

Joshi had moved motion for their suspension.

He moved the motion after apprising the House of the steps taken in the wake of yesterday's incident of a security breach in which two men jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitor's gallery.

The opposition has been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah.

The motion was moved soon after the House met at 2 pm following an adjournment earlier in the day. Joshi moved the motion to suspend Congress MPs - TN Prathapan, Hibi Eden, S Jothimani, Ramya Haridas and Dean Kuriakose - for the remainder of the winter session, which will conclude on December 22.

BJD's Bhartruhari Mahtab was on the chair when the motion was moved and adopted amid sloganeering by opposition members.

Joshi said that Speaker Om Birla has written to the Home Secretary for a high-level inquiry into yesterday's incident and the probe has begun.

He cited instances from the past, including when papers were thrown from the visitor's gallery, and such unfortunate incidents had occurred earlier too. He called upon opposition members not to "politicise" the issue.

Trinamool Congress's Derek O'Brien has been suspended for the remainder of the session in Rajya Sabha for "gross misconduct". The winter session of Parliament will conclude on December 22.