Il Nuovo Postiglione - Nearly 100 MPs barred from Indian parliament session

NYSE - LSE

CMSC	-0.53%	20.81	$
BTI	-1.12%	55.35	$
RELX	-3.21%	35.51	$
BCC	2.64%	79.21	$
RYCEF	0.7%	19.92	$
BCE	-0.59%	23.67	$
RBGPF	0%	70	$
NGG	-0.06%	78.12	$
RIO	0.42%	103.27	$
GSK	-1.96%	49.89	$
CMSD	-0.34%	20.69	$
BP	0.52%	43.81	$
JRI	-0.58%	12.14	$
VOD	1.89%	16.9	$
AZN	-1.27%	162.7	$

Nearly 100 MPs barred from Indian parliament session

POLITICS 18.12.2023

Nearly 100 MPs barred from Indian parliament session / Photo: - - AFP/File

Nearly 100 opposition lawmakers have been temporarily barred from India's parliament for demanding a debate into last week's protest when a smoke canister was released in the legislature.

Text size:

The 92 suspended MPs include key opposition leaders in both houses of the parliament.

Six people were arrested after the December 13 protest, when one man jumped onto the floor of the lower house of parliament from an overhead visitors' gallery.

Official footage from the session showed one man shouting slogans and vaulting over tables between stunned lawmakers before a device was set off that caused yellow smoke to billow into the chamber.

The following day, 14 MPs were barred from the chambers after they demanded the interior minister Amit Shah give a statement on the incident.

On Monday, at least 78 MPs were suspended -– 33 from the lower house and 45 from the house of elders.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a rare interview to the Dainik Jagran newspaper, called the incident "very serious" and ordered a detailed investigation, but said there was "no need" for a debate.

The premier, who remains widely popular, is seeking a third consecutive term in the national elections due by May next year.

"First, intruders attacked Parliament. Then Modi Govt attacking Parliament & Democracy," Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the opposition Congress party, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Under Modi's tenure, India has slumped in Freedom House's rankings for political rights and civil liberties, with police cracking down on protests, the ruling party scoring lavish funding from business allies and press freedoms curtailed.

The protest on Wednesday came on the 22nd anniversary of an attack on parliament -- then in an older building -- when five gunmen shot dead at least eight security personnel and a gardener.

Q.Bernardi--INP

Featured

25 years on, America seeks to keep 9/11 memories alive

A quarter century after the era-defining attacks of September 11, the United States is eager to keep alive the memory of a 2001 trauma that is fading as the proportion of Americans who did not experience it firsthand grows.

'Trumpapalooza' tests Republican bet on unpopular US president

US Republicans will gather in Dallas, Texas, next week for a two-day convention aimed at convincing voters that Donald Trump is effectively on the ballot in November -- even as the deeply unpopular president threatens to become a liability for his own party.

North Korea vows nuclear-armed navy as US ally drills open

Leader Kim Jong Un vowed to build North Korea's navy into a nuclear-armed force, state media reported Monday as US allies' maritime drills were to begin.

US envoys have 'more effective proposals': Ukraine official

Washington's envoys have brought new, "more effective" proposals on ending the war with Russia to Kyiv, and President Volodymyr Zelensky is meeting them again in a trio format, a senior Ukrainian presidential official told AFP Sunday.