Opposition protests against RS MPs' suspension hit the streets

As the sit-in protest entered its 14th day, the Opposition on Tuesday took their agitation outside Parliament with lawmakers from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha holding a joint march to Vijay Chowk on the Raisina Hills.

Senior Opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, P Chidambaram, Digvijay Singh, KC Venugopal (Congress), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Manoj K Jha (RJD), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), Jose K Mani (Kerala Congress), ET Mohd Basheer (Muslim League) and MV Shreyams Kumar (LJD) among others walked with suspended MPs from Gandhi Statue in Parliament to Vijay Chowk, shouting slogans against the Narendra Modi government.

A number of Trinamool Congress MPs also participated in the protest march. Trinamool Congress has been keeping away from initiatives led by Congress, as both are at loggerheads over the leadership of the Opposition.

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This is the first of at least two programmes the Opposition is planning to do this week to take the protest outside Parliament Complex. There are also plans to hold a protest at Jantar Mantar with national leaders like Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Sitaram Yechury and others in attendance.

Addressing the media after the march, Rahul claimed that the Opposition is not being allowed to raise issues in Parliament, which has now become "merely a building and a museum".

"Wherever the Opposition is trying to raise issues, they are suppressed. The government does not allow us to raise issues. This is murder of democracy. We want to raise issues against the government, but we are not allowed to do so," Rahul said adding, Prime Minister Narendra Modi does not come to Parliament. "This is not the way to run a democracy," he said.

"We have here our suspended members. This is the symbol of democracy of the country and this is the symbol of crushing the voice of the people of India. They have been suspended for two weeks now. They are sitting outside and their voice has been crushed. We are not being allowed to discuss important issues... Whenever we want to raise an issue, we are stopped from doing so. This is a very unfortunate killing of democracy that is taking place," he said.

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Responding to the claims, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi asked the opposition parties to express regret and join the House, saying the government wants their constructive criticism and suggestions to be part of the debates. He said the people have given them "marching orders" twice.

The protest outside was also reflected inside the House with Opposition MPs shouting slogans in Rajya Sabha, leading to an adjournment in the morning session and walk out in the afternoon session.

As the Opposition continued their protest, Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu adjourned the House till 2 PM but not before asking officials to send AAP member Sanjay Singh out from the House, saying "he is challenging the Chair". When the House re-assembled at 2 PM, there were similar scenes and Kharge announced the walk-out after being not allowed to raise the issue of suspension of MPs.

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