Snatching of papers from Speaker's table 'unprecedented': Govt

Terming the conduct of the seven suspended Congress members in Lok Sabha "unprecedented", the government on Thursday said snatching of papers from the Speaker's table is of "utmost disrespect" to the Chair and demanded that the MP who did it be terminated for the entire term of the House.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the Speaker has accepted a request by the government to set up a committee to investigate the continuous indiscipline by the Congress members and the snatching of the papers by a party MP.

As soon as the House met at 3 pm following an adjournment, a motion was passed seeking the suspension of the seven Congress MPs -- Gaurav Gogoi, T N Prathapan, Dean Kuriakose, Manickam Tagore, Rajmohan Unnithan, Benny Behanan and Gurjeet Singh Aujla.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who was chairing the proceedings, named the members, following which Union minister Joshi moved the motion to suspend them from the House for the remaining period of the Budget session.

The motion was passed by voice vote amid protests by opposition members.

"The snatching of papers from the Speaker's table is (of) utmost disrespect to the Chair. We condemn this. This is unprecedented and has never happened in the history of the parliament," Joshi said.

Till date, the Speaker's seat has never been "assaulted" like this, he said.

"We will press for an enquiry, and also demand that the member who snatched the Speaker's papers should be terminated from the House for the entire term," he added.

Without naming anyone, the parliamentary affairs minister said the government has also requested the Speaker to set up a committee to investigate the continuous indiscipline by Congress members and also the snatching of the papers by a Congress MP.

Joshi said the Speaker has agreed to form the committee.

Earlier in the day, Congress members stormed into the Well demanding suspension of Hanuman Beniwal of the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, a Rajasthan-based regional outfit which is backed by the BJP, over his remarks against the Gandhi family.

As Rama Devi, who was in the chair then, continued to run the proceedings of the House, Congress members raised slogans "Suspend the MP, Modi Sarkar shame shame".

When the process of passing the Mineral Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2020, was underway, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi was seen throwing papers kept on the Speaker's podium.

Talking about the continued logjam in the House, sources in the government said several Union ministers had reached out to the Opposition. They met Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and conveyed to them that they are ready for discussion on northeast Delhi violence.

BJP leaders said they had requested the Congress to deliberate on the issue as any controversial statement in either House could flare-up tensions at a time when police are working overtime to maintain peace in the national capital.