Leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, faced suspension due to alleged ‘misconduct’ on Thursday. This suspension will continue until the privileges committee completes its investigation and submits a report regarding the matter.
The decision for Chowdhury’s suspension was set in motion by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, who claimed that Chowdhury’s disruptions during Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ministers’ speeches had become a recurring issue. This motion was passed through a voice vote.
Chowdhury’s remarks about the prime minister during a debate on a no-confidence motion had sparked anger from the government benches, leading to the resolution for his suspension. In response, Chowdhury clarified his intent, stating, “Modi ji is sitting ‘nirav’ on Manipur issue. ‘Nirav’ means to be silent. My intention was not to insult PM Modi.”
He also commented on the situation, stating, “PM Modi did not feel that he was insulted, his darbaris (courtiers) felt so and brought this proposal against me. I came to know that (the matter) has been referred to the privileges committee and I have been suspended till then.”
Expressing concern over the suspension, Congress whip in Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore, said, “First time for speaking against Modi, largest opposition (party) leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury suspended. Unbelievable. Undemocratic. Condemn the autocracy.”
During the debate, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi highlighted the repeated nature of Chowdhury’s disruptions and stated, “Always in his debate he makes these baseless charges, he tries to lower the dignity of the government. There are no facts in his arguments and he never apologises. Today also, we demanded that he apologise. He did the same thing when the home minister was speaking.”
Pralhad Joshi introduced the resolution, which read, “This House, having taken note of the gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in utter disregard of the House and authority of the chair, resolves that the matter of misconduct of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury be further referred to the Committee of Privileges of the house for further investigation and report to the House and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury be suspended from service of the House till the committee submits its report.”
Earlier, the opposition had walked out of the House during the prime minister’s response to the no-confidence motion, citing a lack of reference to Manipur in the initial 90 minutes of the speech. Speaker Om Birla expressed disappointment with the conduct of Chowdhury and BJP MP Virendra Singh during the debate, deeming it undignified. BJP MP Singh later apologized to the chair for his behavior.
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