19 Oppn MPs suspended over misconduct from Rajya Sabha for a week

The heat was on the Opposition on Tuesday.

Nineteen MPs were suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the rest of the week for indiscipline, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi faced another round of questioning by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the National Herald case, and National Conference chief and former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah was charge-sheeted in a money laundering case.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was detained while protesting along with 50 workers against summons for questioning of Sonia Gandhi, who appeared before the agency but was allowed to go home on her request, ED sources said, at lunchtime. She returned after lunch for a two-and-a-half-hour grilling. “India is a police state, Modi is a king,” Rahul Gandhi alleged, saying discussions were not being allowed in Parliament. “I am not going anywhere. We wanted to go towards the President’s house. But the police are not allowing us,” he said. 

Rajya Sabha MPs from a range of Opposition parties, including Kanimozhi (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), Susmita Dev (Trinamool Congress), Dola Sen, and others were suspended for the rest of the week for “misconduct” by entering well of the House, shouting slogans, and disturbing the debate. The speech of colleague Rakesh Sinha (BJP) was going on as the Opposition MPs kept up an incessant din. “Democracy has been suspended in India. Parliament has been turned into a deep, dark chamber,” TMC leader Derek O'Brien told reporters, reacting to their suspension. O'Brien, the leader of the TMC in the Rajya Sabha, alleged that Prime Minister Modi is "afraid" of Parliament.

Much the same sentiments were voiced by Opposition Vice-President candidate Margaret Alva. She tweeted: “The fear that Big Brother is always watching and listening permeates all conversations between politicians across party lines in new India. MPs and leaders of parties carry multiple phones, frequently change numbers and talk in hushed whispers when they meet. Fear kills democracy.”

However, the BJP defended its action. When asked about Gandhi's allegations that India has become a police state under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and probe agencies were being misused, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said: "It is a figment of their imagination.” 

Meanwhile, the ED filed a chargesheet against alleged financial irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), when Farooq Abdullah was the JKCA president from 2001 to 2012. The ED had filed a supplementary prosecution complaint under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), before the Special PMLA Court in Srinagar, against Abdullah, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, Mir Manzoor Gazanffer, and others on June 4.

The ED had initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of a charge sheet filed by the CBI on July 11, 2018, against office bearers of JKCA on allegations of wrongful loss to JKCA and corresponding wrongful gain to the accused persons to the tune of Rs 43.69 crore. The quantum of proceeds of crime identified by ED in this case so far is Rs 51.90 crore, out of which assets worth Rs 21.55 crore have been attached by ED.

Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, the then treasurer of JKCA, was arrested by the CBI on September 4, 2019.