Suspension of 8 Lok Sabha MPs revoked, Congress says: ‘Lakshman Rekha must include dignity of LoP’

The suspension had come after the Opposition MPs used AI-generated images of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Hardeep Puri and alleging links with sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein.

A war of words erupted in Lok Sabha Tuesday between the Treasury and Opposition Benches as the House resolved to maintain the dignity of the House, and revoked the suspension of eight members, who were suspended on February 3 for “unruly behaviour”.

Both sides agreed not to cross the “Laxman Rekha” during proceedings in the House and agreed that its dignity should be maintained.

The suspension was revoked after a voice vote in the House.

Seven Congress MPs — Manickam Tagore, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Hibi Eden, C Kiran Kumar Reddy, Dean Kuriakose, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Prashant Padole — and S Venkatesan of the CPI-M were suspended on February 3.

Congress chief whip in Lok Sabha, K Suresh, initiated the discussion on the resolution to revoke the suspension.

“I request the Speaker to revoke their suspension… You (speaker) had a meeting yesterday.

We had a detailed discussion… It was decided,” said Suresh.

Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav said that the ruling side should also maintain the dignity and decorum of the House.

“I support the resolution to revoke the suspension of eight MPs… The ruling side people are dictating terms here.

All members are responsible for maintaining the dignity of the House.

But on behalf of the party and my leader, Akhilesh Yadav , we will never cross the dignity of the House.

But, the ruling party people should also resolve to do this.

And without it, the House won’t run.

Nishikant Dubey should also improve his behaviour,” said Yadav, resulting in a row in the House.

Speaker Om Birla intervened and appealed to members not to debate the issue.

Dubey replied, saying, “I have been a member of the House for 17 years.

I have never crossed the line.

They should apologize and if they don’t, this House won’t run.”
Supriya Sule of the NCP (SP) appealed to the members on both sides not to make personal remarks.

“The decision yesterday was that the ‘laxman rekha’ should not be crossed.

We will try.

The Treasury Bench is not ready.

Four ministers are speaking against me,” said Sule.

Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh agreed with Sule that the “laxman Rekha” should not be crossed.

“You can’t clap with one hand,” said Singh.

Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju said the ruling side is always ready for discussions.

“Everyone agreed yesterday.

Today, when they spoke in the House, they were unable to use some words.

Before I move the resolution, if there is clarity on the sense of the House.

I am ready to move a resolution,” said the minister.

“We have followed rules in the past and will do so in the future,” added Rijiju.

K Suresh of the Congress then said, “Yesterday onwards, there have been no placards.

There is no protest at Makar Dwar.

We are ready to cooperate.

At the same time, equal opportunity should be given to the Opposition Benches as well as the Treasury Benches.

Then everything will be over.”
Speaker Birla said, “All parties committed that they’ll contribute to maintaining the dignity and tradition of the House.

I request all members not to use fake, AI-generated photos.

I have requested this in the Bulletin too,” he said.

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India.

A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express.

During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues.

He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state.

During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh.

He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute.

Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor.

Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University.

He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia.

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