MPs' suspension no deterrent to those who breached security, aimed at silencing oppn: Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Friday hit out at the BJP over the suspension of 14 MPs, saying this was no deterrent to those who breached security and was intended at silencing the opposition.

While Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was suspended from the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, 13 opposition MPs, including nine from the Congress and the DMK’s Kanimozhi, were suspended from the Lok Sabha.

On Wednesday, two persons jumped into the Lok Sabha chamber from the visitors’ gallery, shouted slogans and released coloured smoke from canisters that triggered panic and chaos in the House.

In a post on X, Chidambaram said, ”Politics under BJP has plunged to new depths. If the Opposition wants the Hon’ble PM or the Hon’ble HM to make a statement in Parliament on the terrible breach of security on December 13, their members will be suspended.” ”Suspension of MPs is no deterrent to those who breached security. It is intended to silence the Opposition,” the former home minister said.

The Congress on Thursday described the suspension of opposition MPs as a ”murder of democracy” and accused the BJP government of reducing Parliament to a ”rubber stamp”.