Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said that there is a “deliberate design” by the BJP to throttle the voice of the Opposition in Parliament and asserted that he would explore the option of approaching the Supreme Court against his suspension.
Mr. Chowdhury was suspended for repeated “gross misconduct” on Thursday and he would remain suspended until the Privileges Committee submits its report.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had moved a resolution for his suspension.
Addressing a press conference at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters, Mr. Chowdhury said his suspension was a “retrogressive step”.
“I have been hanged and now I must face trial. It’s a queer situation,” he said. When asked if he would appear before the privileges panel to explain himself, he responded by saying he is adhir [impatient] to do so.
Responding to a question on his colleague Manish Tewari saying that his suspension was a “fit case” to be challenged in the top court, he said, “Some consultations and discussions are on”.
He said a new grammar and dictionary is being prepared in parliamentary discourse in which members of the ruling party can say anything they like but Opposition members can speak only what the ruling party members approve of.
“With all humility at my command, I can say that I did not have even a remote objective to disparage or tarnish anyone whosoever in Parliament,” Mr. Chowdhury said.
Clarifying his controversial remarks, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi can speak on anything but on the Manipur issue he is “nirav”.
“The word nirav means silent. My intention was not to insult Modi ji,” he said, adding if anything unparliamentary was said, the Speaker had the right to delete it.
“But, I do not know why for one or two words, which were misconstrued by them as offensive, the BJP may have protested to the Speaker as per the rules and got those words expunged...Naturally, it is very precarious. Retrogressive steps are being taken by the government. These kinds of retrogressive steps will certainly undermine the spirit of Parliamentary democracy,” he said.
He said Manipur cannot be compared with any other State and referred to Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement in the Lok Sabha where he acknowledged that the armed forces were deployed in “buffer zone”.
“The Prime Minister kept on avoiding us and then we brought a no-confidence motion as the last option because of which the PM came and spoke in the house,” he said.
