Mallikarjun Kharge accuses ruling party of weaponizing suspension of MPs in letter to Jagdeep Dhankhar

Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge has accused the ruling party of weaponizing the suspension of MPs as a convenient strategy to undermine democracy, sabotage Parliamentary practices, and stifle the Constitution. In a letter addressed to Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, Kharge responded to Dhankhar's earlier communication, stating that the Chairman's letter unfortunately justifies the government's autocratic and arrogant attitude toward Parliament. Kharge urged the Chairman to objectively and neutrally examine the raised concerns as the head of the Rajya Sabha. He asserted that the ruling party has effectively utilized the suspension of members as a tool to subvert democracy and obstruct Parliamentary norms.

If anything privilege motions have also been weaponised to muzzle the voice of the Opposition. This is a deliberate design of the ruling dispensation to undermine Parliament itself. By suspending MPs, the government is effectively silencing the voice of the voters of 146 MPs altogether, Kharge said. You have also mentioned that disorder was deliberate and strategised and predetermined. I would like to submit that if anything, it is the mass suspension of the Opposition MPs from both Houses of Parliament that seems to be predetermined and premeditated by the Government and I am most sorry to say, executed without any application of mind, as can be seen by the suspension of an INDIA party MP who was not even present in the Parliament, he said.

While Dhankhar, in his letter, had said that his attempts to meet the Leader of Opposition were turned down, Kharge said he had sought a statement from the Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach on December 14, before the suspensions started. I recognise it is well within your powers as Chairman to decide on these notices. However, it was regrettable that the Chair condoned the attitude of the Hon'ble Home Minister and the Government who did not wish to make a statement on the floor of the House. It was even more regrettable that the Hon'ble Home Minister made his first public statement before a TV channel when Parliament was in session and the Chair did not find that sacrileging the temple of democracy, Kharge said.