Trinamool Congress’s Santanu Sen was suspended from the Parliament’s Monsoon Session on Friday, a day after he snatched the Pegasus statement from IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in the Rajya Sabha and tore it. The Lok Sabha was adjourned early today, till Monday amid protests by Opposition parties over the Pegasus row.
Sen was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the remaining period of the Monsoon Session on Friday after a motion moved by the government was passed by the House.
Meanwhile, several Opposition MPs, including Congress’ Rahul Gandhi protested against the government inside Parliament complex over the Pegasus snooping issue and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored judicial probe into the matter.
Both Houses of the Parliaments were adjourned on Thursday following sloganeering by Opposition members over various issues, including the farm laws and the Pegasus snooping case.
Opposition members have been protesting over various issues for the fourth straight sitting of the Monsoon Session.
TMC MP Santanu Sen suspended from Rajya Sabha
Soon after the obituary references and laying of papers, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion for Sen’s suspension after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) member snatched papers from Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and tore them in the House on Thursday.
The motion was passed by a voice vote and Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked Sen to leave the House. “The motion is approved. Dr Santanu Sen stands suspended for the remaining part of the session,” the chairman announced soon after the motion was passed.
Earlier, while moving the motion, Muraleedharan said, “I move that Dr Santanu Sen, AITC, be suspended from the services of the house for the remaining part of the current session for his unruly behaviour, unbecoming of a member of the Rajya Sabha.”
The TMC members protested, with Sukhendu Sekhar Ray raising objection to the manner in which the motion was brought without listing it in the day’s business. “The motion is not part of the list of the business. We did not have any opportunity to react on that. We were quite unaware on whether the government is moving such a motion. It was not included in the list,” he said.
Other TMC MPs raised the issue of Sen being allegedly threatened by a minister, but the chairman said it happened after the House was adjourned. Sen had accused Union minister Hardeep Puri of verbally threatening and abusing him inside the House after it was adjourned.
“What is happening in the House in the presence of the Chair is taken note of by me. Subsequently what has happened, it has not been brought to my notice,” Naidu said when TMC’s Derek O’Brien sought to raise the issue.
As the TMC members created an uproar and others also joined them seeking a discussion on the Pegasus snooping row, the chairman adjourned the house till 12 noon.
Pegasus snooping row: Opposition protests in Parliament complex
Several Opposition MPs, including Congress’ Rahul Gandhi, protested against the government inside Parliament complex over the Pegasus snooping issue and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored judicial probe into the matter.
A host of senior Congress MPs like Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, party’s leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, KC Venugopal and Shashi Tharoor, DMK’s Kanimozhi and Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, were present during the protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue inside the Parliament complex.
Carrying a banner that read “#PegasusSnoopGate We demand Supreme Court Monitored Judicial Probe”, the MPs raised slogans like “ye jasoosi bandh karo (stop this spying)”.
Delhi | Congress, DMK, and Shiv Sena MPs protest against ‘Pegasus Project’ media report in front of Mahatma Gandhi statue inside Parliament premises pic.twitter.com/vDRHm8EGj8
— ANI (@ANI) July 23, 2021
The government and the ruling BJP have dismissed the Pegasus Project reports as concocted and evidence-less.
LS adjourned amid opposition uproar over Pegasus row, farmers’ issue
Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day following disruptions by Opposition parties which raised slogans on the Pegasus snooping row and the farmers’ issue by trooping into the Well of the House on Friday.
As soon as the House met for the day at 11 am, some Opposition members rushed to the Well but they were prevented from doing so by floor leaders of their respective parties as Speaker Om Birla wanted to make observations on the Indian squad participating in the Tokyo Olympics.
Soon after, TMC members shouted slogans demanding details of the money allegedly spent by the government on Pegasus spyware. Congress members had placards demanding a Supreme Court-monitored judicial probe into the Pegasus allegations. They also showed their cell phones to the Speaker.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD) was holding a placard demanding rollback of the three farm laws.
As disruptions continued, the Speaker adjourned the House till 12 noon at 11.20 am. As the House reassembled at 12 noon, Kirit Solanki, who was in the Chair, asked protesting members to take their respective seats.
During the brief period for which the House functioned, resolutions were passed to appoint and elect new members in various Parliamentary panels as some of the members have become ministers in the recent reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers.
As the Opposition uproar continued, Solanki said that such behaviour does not suit senior elected members of the House and adjourned the proceedings for the day. The House will now meet on Monday.
With inputs from PTI