Opposition leaders gathered outside the Parliament on 25 July to protest the suspension of six INC members from the Lok Sabha. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended the members for five days on the grounds of “highly unbecoming” conduct. The members were protesting over the lynching issue that, Mahajan said, “undermined the Chair's dignity”.
Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, asked Mahajan to withdraw her order and allow them in the house. “This never happened under Meira Kumar. She never lost her cool. The Speaker shouldn’t come under government’s pressure,” he added.
Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, Janata Dal-United’s Sharad Yadav and CPI’s D Raja were present at the protest.
Mahajan announced her order as soon as the House met at 2 pm on 24 July following an adjournment. She said she was constrained to name Gaurav Gogoi, K Suresh, Adhir Rajan Chowdhury, Ranjeet Ranjan, Sushmita Dev and MK Raghavan for their improper behaviour.
In her order, she said the members had torn official papers and thrown it towards the Chair, prompting members of the treasury benches to shout "shame, shame". Some of these members had picked up papers from the Lok Sabha Secretariat staffers' table and had torn and thrown them, Mahajan said.
She said all this had happened despite she agreeing to a discussion on the issue of alleged atrocities against Dalits and Muslims. Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and a few other members had raised the issue of atrocities and she had allowed them to speak, Mahajan said.
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