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Wasn't given a chance to defend myself: TMC MP Santanu Sen after Rajya Sabha suspension

Sen was suspended for snatching and tearing the statement of IT Minister Ashiwini Vaishnaw on the Pegasus row
Last Updated 24 July 2021, 06:57 IST

Trinamool Congress MP Santanu Sen, who was suspended from Rajya Sabha on Friday, said this move by the Centre cannot suppress the voices of Mamata Banerjee and her party on the Pegasus issue.

Sen, suspended for snatching and tearing the statement of IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, in an interview with The Indian Express, said that his mode of protest was not unprecedented. "This is not the first time anyone has torn up papers in the Well of the House. It has happened many times before. I object to even the manner in which the suspension was carried out — it was not listed, and didn’t even find mention in supplementary list of business. The minister simply moved the motion and the Chairman passed it," he said.

Sen and his colleagues had been protesting the Pegasus spyware issue for days before the Parliament session.

Sen also told the publication that BJP leader Hardeep Singh Puri gesticulated rudely at him and threatened if. "...(he) would have even physically assaulted me if my TMC colleagues had not rushed to my rescue and marshals hadn't intervened," he added, calling it a black day in Parliament.

The MP said that the BJP is practicing vendetta politics as it is yet to recover from the crushing defeat handed to it by the TMC in West Bengal. "They had thrown everything at us — money, muscle, constitutional agencies and yet they lost."

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(Published 24 July 2021, 05:33 IST)

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