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New Delhi: Mockery of parliamentary democracy, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on suspension of MPs

Criticizing the government over the suspension of over 140 MPs, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday said a ‘dubious record’ has been created, meaning no country has suspended so many MLAs simultaneously and said our parliamentary democracy. “It has been reduced to a farce”.

Speaking to reporters after attending opposition protests over suspension of MPs, Tharoor, who was suspended on Tuesday, said that with the suspension of so many opposition MPs, the history of parliamentary democracy is “broken”. Is. ” in our country.

He said, what has been seen in the country in the past is an “imitation of parliamentary democracy”.

He said, “I have done little or no research on the entire history of parliamentary democracy and no parliament in any country in the world has suspended or expelled 150 people. “This is the second record we are setting in our Parliament this week.”

Tharoor said, the whole world understands that the basic principle of parliamentary democracy is the responsibility of the Council of Ministers before the Parliament.

“Since Parliament is in session, whatever happens, it is the duty of the government to come to Parliament and discuss with them before leaving,” he said.

“When the opposition debated the security breach and asked the interior minister to come and speak in Parliament, like everyone else, the interior minister did not come, giving announcements to the media, giving interviews to the press, but speaking inside Parliament. Was not ready. That is why the opposition protested and it must be said that the response has been disproportionate to the actual crime of the protest”, Tharoor said.

The protest gave rise to a very democratic parliamentary cause: the Home Minister should come and initiate the discussion, said the Thiruvananthapuram deputy.

Another 49 opposition MLAs were suspended from the Lok Sabha on Tuesday for rebellious behaviour, taking the total number of MPs facing action in both houses of Parliament to 141 and the coalition India on Friday called for national anti-government protests declare. , Tharoor stressed that the opposition has come to this winter session and has decided to fully cooperate in the functioning of Parliament.

The opposition wants to participate in major debates on issues of national importance, he said.

But the sad thing is that the government is not interested in allowing the opposition to function responsibly in Parliament, he said.

“We saw that when we were in power it was important to keep the interests of the opposition in mind. If we were in this position, we would have invited the Home Minister for 10 minutes, during which we would have discussed.” In half an hour or 45 minutes we would have calmed down the situation. In turn, we have lost time and we have disrupted the history of parliamentary democracy in our country”, he said.

“We are leaving this House with the feeling that our entire parliamentary democracy has been betrayed and reduced to a parody,” Tharoor said.

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