The Rajya Sabha chairman and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar has suspended All India Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien from the Rajya Sabha for the rest of the session over unruly behaviour and disregarding the directions of the chair.
The TMC MP had sought to speak in the house under the context of raising a point of order and when the chair had asked him to point out the rule under which he was raising the point of order, O’Brien said that he was speaking under rule 267. A rule under which the opposition has been wanting to speak for long on Manipur since the start of the monsoon session.
The Leader of the House and Union Minister Piyush Goyal thereafter moved a motion for suspending the Trinamool leader for the rest of the Monsoon session. No sooner had Mr Goyal got up than Trinamool MPs rushed to the well, shouting slogans.
Mr Dhankhar also said that Derek O’Brien has been suspended for the remainder of the Monsoon session, which ends on August 11. “Leave the house immediately,” Mr Dhankhar told the Trinamool MP. On Monday, Mr Dhankhar accused Derek O’Brien of doing “theatrics” in the House to gain publicity during a heated debate on the Delhi services bill.
Jagdeep Dhankhar’s outburst came after Derek O’Brien did not confine his speech to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and kept on talking about the allegations on the government. The chairman accused the TMC MP of making engaging in theatrics a habit, which brought a strong objection from Mr O’Brien, who said he was quoting the rules of the House and demanding a serious discussion on Manipur.
“Your demeanour was ignoble, does not justify the position you hold. You have upset the decorum of the ecosystem….of House. You have done it on purpose,” Mr Dhankhar added.
Co-incidentally, Derek O’Brien’s suspension comes on the day when the No-Confidence Motion against the Modi government is scheduled. The Lok Sabha is currently having a debate on the motion and the final voting is expected to be held on Wednesday or Thursday.
