Unprecedented scenes led to Cong MPs' suspension

Monsoon session: They were trying to prevent cameras from filming ministers

Hours before Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress MPs from the Lok Sabha for five days, the House witnessed an unprecedented scene.

The agitating MPs held up large placards to prevent TV cameras from filming ministers replying to queries during Question Hour.

Some Congress MPs also stood near the Speaker's podium, attempting to ensure their placards, with anti-government slogans, were aired on Lok Sabha TV whenever the cameras turned to Mahajan.

The channel crew had to jockey with nine cameras installed in the House, as the protesting MPs trooped into the Well with large placards soon after the House met on Monday.

As Mahajan continued with the Question Hours proceedings amid din, the Congress MPs kept moving in the Well, shouting slogans against the BJP-led government and holding up placards to prevent cameras from filming members asking supplementary questions and ministers replying. Congress MPs Gaurav Gogoi, Sushmita Dev, Deepender Hooda, K C Venugopal and Rajiv Satav held up placards in front of Union ministers Bandaru Dattatreya, Manoj Sinha and Ashok Gajapati Raju as they answered questions.

The Speaker repeatedly read out the names of several Congress MPs and asked them not to display the placards, reminding them they were violating House rules.

The MPs, however, did not relent. Hooda was even seen shouting slogans before the chair through a poster rolled up into a megaphone-like shape. The Lok Sabha TV crew, however, quickly switched from one remote-controlled camera to another to avoid airing visuals of the protests or the placards, which had anti-government slogans, like “Dagiyo Se Muh Modo, Pradhanmantri Chuppi Todo” (Turn away from the tainted and break your silence, Prime Minister), and “Bade Modi Meherban, To Chhote Modi Pahalwan” (the younger Modi is powerful as the older Modi is kind to him).

The Congress MPs were demanding the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, and Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh Chief Ministers, Vasundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan, respectively.

They accused Raje of helping IPL ex-commissioner Lalit Modi get a travel document from the UK when his Indian passport had been revoked for not complying with the Enforcement Directorate summonses. Chouhan was being targeted for his purported involvement in a recruitment scam in his state.

Samajwadi Party (SP) and Leftist parties' MPs joined the agitation, but only Dharmendra Yadav of the SP held a placard, urging the government to make public the data collected during the nationwide Socio-Economic and Caste Census.

Nationalist Congress Party, Aam Aadmi Party and Trinamool Congress MPs were also seen standing, although they did not come down to the Well.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, were on their seats when the MPs were protesting. Sonia was seen discussing something with SP chief Mualayam Singh.