CHENNAI: CPM state secretary P Shanmugam on Tuesday condemned what it described as anti-democratic actions by the Union BJP government in the Lok Sabha during the debate on the motion thanking the President for the Address, over suspension of 8 opposition MPs.
In a statement, Shanmugam said that when the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, attempted to speak in the House on Monday, ruling party members prevented him from doing so. A similar situation prevailed on Tuesday when the Leader of the Opposition rose to speak, but the Speaker instead called upon a ruling party member to address the House.
Protesting this, Tamil Nadu Congress MP Manickam Tagore and CPM MP Su Venkatesan, along with six other MPs, sought justice by staging a protest before the Speaker. Subsequently, all eight MPs were suspended for the remainder of the session.
Shanmugam said that preventing the Leader of the Opposition and other MPs from speaking within Parliament, throttling their voices and curtailing their rights amounted to a grave assault on democracy. The party's State committee strongly condemned what it termed the Union BJP government's authoritarian actions.
The party also urged all democratic forces to raise their voices against these anti-democratic and repressive measures, demanded the immediate revocation of the suspension of the eight MPs, and called upon the Union BJP government to ensure the conduct of parliamentary proceedings in a democratic manner.