Suspended MPs 50-hour long day-night protest continues in Parliament

NEW DELHI: Opposition MPs continued their 50-hour day-night sit-in protest on Friday morning in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside Parliament premises to mark their strong protest against their suspension and the central government which they claimed was not ready to hold discussion over key issues like price rise and increased GST rates. A total of 27 MPs including 23 Rajya Sabha MPs and 4 Lok Sabha MPs have been suspended for "unruly behaviour" during the ongoing Monsoon session of Parliament. This is learnt to be the highest number of single-batch suspensions in the Upper House.

The 50-hour long sit-in is likely to end around 5 pm on Friday. MPs, who were suspended for the week for their "unruly behaviour and disrupting proceedings" in the Parliament, had started the sit-in protest Wednesday afternoon. Among the MPs who spent the night outside include Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sanjay Singh, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders Abir Ranjan Biswas and Derek O'Brien while TMC MPs Dola Sen, Sushmita Dev, Mausam Noor, AAP MPs Sushil Gupta and Sandeep Pathak were at the protest site till midnight.

On the second night under the sky, the MPs arranged mosquito nets for themselves. TMC MP Derek O'Brien and AAP MP Sanjay Singh shared a photo from the protest site where the MPs could be seen inside mosquito nets. Congress leader Manickam Tagore earlier on Thursday posted a video of a mosquito sitting on a protesting MP's hand. In that video, a mosquito coil was also seen.

"Non-stop day-night 50 hr dharna still on. About 6 hours to go. Revoke suspension of 27 MPs suspended for seeking a discussion on #PriceRise. Opposition fighting to save sanctity of Parliament from dictators," tweeted TMC MP Derek O'Brien. Some of the media reports also claimed that the suspended Rajya Sabha MPs who are protesting in the Parliament had consumed "tandoori chicken" in front of Mahatama Gandhi's statue.

Sanjay Singh took to Twitter to share several pictures of the protest and said that the Chief Minister of Gujarat should resign as many children lost their parents because of the spurious liquor "These innocent children were made orphans by the poisonous liquor of Gujarat. Is it a crime to raise their issue in the House? Should the CM of Gujarat not resign? The night has passed, it is morning. The protest in the Parliament premises continued for the third day," he said in a tweet.

Singh also shared a video on Twitter and said today the protest has entered the third and they will continue till the government discusses the spurious liquor tragedy in Gujarat. "Today is the third day of protest and today I am sitting in front of the Gandhi statue inside the parliament premises. The issue because we are protesting is to hold a discussion in Parliament over the death of 75 people by consuming spurious liquor in Gujarat. In the state where the BJP is in power for the last 27 years and where liquor is banned, their small children are orphaned because of spurious liquor. This is the matter we want to raise in Parliament but we were suspended. But I am still in the Parliament premises and will continue to protest," said AAP MP.

Earlier, Singh told ANI that all the 20 suspended MPs from Rajya Sabha would continue their 50-hour long sit-in till Friday afternoon and that the Modi government should apologize to the people of Gujarat over the spurious liquor tragedy. MPs who were suspended on Tuesday over 'unruly behaviour and disrupting proceedings' include Sushmita Dev, Santanu Sen, Dola Sen, Mausam Noor, Shanta Chhetri, Abhi Ranjan Biswar and Mohd Nadidul Haque.

On July 27, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the remainder of this week for "throwing paper on the Chair" during the proceedings. Singh was the 20th MP from the Upper House who was suspended for disrupting proceedings in this session. This is the highest number of single-batch suspensions in the Upper House. On July 25, four Congress MPs including Manickam Tagore, Ramya Haridas, Jothimani and TN Prathapan were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the entire Monsoon session for their 'unruly behaviour and disrupting proceedings.'

The Monsoon Session of Parliament commenced on July 18 and will continue till August 12. There will be 18 sittings during the Session.