JOIN USTMC's Derek O'Brien suspended from Rajya Sabha for throwing Rule Book
Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O'Brien was on Tuesday suspended from Rajya Sabha for “unruly and contemptuous behaviour” after he threw the Rule Book at the reporter's table protesting against Deputy Chairman Harivansh not allowing the opposition's demand for a vote on sending a bill to amend election laws for further Parliamentary scrutiny.
The suspension of O’Brien, the 13th MP to face such a punishment during the Winter Session, is for the remainder of the session, which would mean just a day as the government is planning to adjourn the Session sine die on Wednesday instead of the scheduled Thursday.
This is the second suspension of the quiz master-turned-politician in 15 months, the first being in September 2020 with seven others MPs for protesting against the passage of contentious farm bills in din.
Already in this session, 12 other MPs were suspended for for their "unruly" behaviour on the last day of Monsoon Session on August 11, against which the entire opposition has been up in arms since the first day of the Winter Session.
The throwing of the Rule Book came minutes after Law Minister Kiren Rijiju's reply to the debate on the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and during the process of voting on the bill that saw protest from the opposition which wanted the bill to be sent to a Rajya Sabha Select Committee.
The run-up to the incident saw opposition MPs rushing to the Well of the House protesting against the bill, which was passed with a voice vote in the absence of opposition MPs, who walked out. The opposition MPs cited privacy concerns, among other reasons, even as around half-a-dozen MPs, including a couple of them from the opposition, who said democracy needed protection, spoke on the bill.
At the time of voting on the bill, CPI(M)'s John Brittas demanded voting on his motion to send the bill to a Select Committee. Harivansh said that he was ready to conduct the vote provided the protesting MPs who were in the Well returned to their seats.
As some MPs remained in the Well, Harivansh said he cannot conduct the voting and said that they should bring the House in order. Brittas responded that the Chair should protect his right for voting and he should get the House in order instead of asking an MP to do so.
While Congress Deputy Leader Anand Sharma raised a Point of Order on allowing voting, Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge then said that the protesting MPs would go to their seats once the Deputy Chairman announces voting.
However, Harivansh wanted order in the House first and called for voting. In protest, Kharge announced a walk-out and a number of opposition MPs left the House.
O’Brien and other Trinamool MPs as well as Brittas stayed back and the former then sought a Point of Order, insisting on voting on the motion by Brittas. However, the Chair went ahead with the voting process saying that the House was not in order, which angered O’Brien, who threw the book at the reporter's table without hitting anyone. Following this, he and other Trinamool MPs walked out.
With no opposition MPs in the House, Brittas also raised a Point of Order on the Chair's role in ensuring voting, but was rejected following which he announced a walk-out.
The suspension came almost three hours after the incident, at the end of the day's proceedings, around 6 pm when Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion charging the Trinamool leader for unruly behaviour and gross indiscipline.
According to the motion adopted in the House, O’Brien has been suspended for the remaining part of the Winter Session for his “unruly and contemptuous behaviour, unbecoming” of a Rajya Sabha MP by “brazenly throwing the Rajya Sabha Rule Book towards the Chair” and thereby “bringing disrepute and shame to the august House”.
O'Brien tweeted, "The last time I got suspended from Rajya Sabha was when the government was bulldozing farm laws. We all know what happened after that. Today, suspended while protesting against BJP making a mockery of Parliament and bulldozing election laws bill. Hope this Bill too will be repealed soon."
He defended his action saying what happened in the House was a repeat of how the now-repealed farm laws were passed and said the BJP has the gall to give lectures about the Rule Book after breaking every rule and precedent. "Irony just died. (Only two people at the funeral) Guess who," he tweeted.
Referring to the incident, Leader of the House Piyush Goyal told the House the incident was "not just an insult to the House, not just the Chair but to the whole country" and that "we thought that the opposition will learn some lessons but the same thing has been repeated."
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