Murder of democracy, says Sonia Gandhi on MPs suspension

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday said the suspension of 25 MPs of the party by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan was anti-democratic and described it as murder of democracy.

Congress members from both houses, led by Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi wore black bands, and protested at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the parliament complex against the suspension of the party MPs.

"It's duty of the government to run the house. The way our MPs were suspended, was anti-democratic. Democracy is being murdered," Sonia Gandhi told reporters. Rahul Gandhi justified the demand of resignations of the BJP leaders.

"Vyapam scam has destroyed lives of thousands. Sushma Swaraj has broken the laws and Rajasthan chief minister is financially involved with former IPL chief Lalit Modi," Rahul Gandhi said.

"The prime minister likes to do his 'Mann ki baat', instead he should listen to 'Hindustan ke Mann ki baat'," he added Former prime minister Manmohan Singh said that suspending members of Congress party in Lok Sabha is no way to resolve issues.

Earlier, the Congress members, including Manmohan Singh, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, and former union ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh and Ambika Soni, wore black bands on their arms and protested in parliament complex.

"Many parties like the Trinamool Congress, Left and the Aam Aadmi Party have pledged their support to us and said they will boycott Lok Sabha  proceeding," Kharge said.

On Monday, Mahajan suspended 25 Congress parliamentarians for five days for "willfully obstructing the business of the house" and not adhering to her repeated warnings for observing rules in the house.