Revoke suspension of MPs protesting against cow killings: Oppn to Speaker

Seven legislators, hailing from the Congress party, were suspended on Mon

Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday urged "kind-hearted" Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to revoke the suspension of six Congress MPs.

Mahajan, however, said she does not want to comment on the issue immediately.

The six Congress MPs - Gaurav Gogoi, K Suresh, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Ranjeet Ranjan, Sushmita Dev and M K Raghavan - were on Monday suspended for causing "grave disorder" by storming into the Well, tearing papers and throwing them towards the Chair during their protest over growing incidents of lynching by cow vigilantes.

Raising the issue in the House, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge appealed to the Speaker to revoke the suspension of six of his party members.

"Madam (Speaker), we appeal to the House to revoke the suspension of six of our members. You are very kind-hearted," Kharge said.

Mahajan immediately responded by saying "This is why you throw anything (on me)."

Supporting Kharge's plea, TMC's Saugata Roy said some members may have done the ruckus "in the fit of their emotion" and the suspension should be revoked.

He also said that since a new President has assumed office, the day was auspicious and it would be good to revoke the suspension.

He was joined by CPI-M's Mohammad Salim who said the government should be more generous and adopt a resolution revoking the suspension of the opposition members.

However, the government appeared to take a tough stand. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said yesterday was a "black day" and referred to the unruly scenes in the House and the subsequent suspension of the Congress members.

Kumar asked whether they were supporting the act of the suspended members while advocating revocation of their punishment.