After 141 MPs were suspended from the Parliament, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Jaya Bachchan brought up the issue of dirty washrooms.
Speaking to NDTV, Bachchan said, “Our washrooms are in dreadful condition (Hamara washroom itna bhayanak hai)”. She further accused Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar of preventing her from speaking.
“We have been trying to speak since morning. The Leader of the House has said that we will see how much patience you have. The House proceedings will go on till 11 pm tonight. They take water and loo breaks every five minutes. Even our washrooms are terrible,” she said speaking to NDTV.
Accusing the Centre of trying to pass the bills without a discussion, Bachchan said, “They are using unfair and unjust measures. If you want to pass the bill, do it just like that. What’s the point of doing ‘ayes and noes. Why this drama?”
Day after 78 MPs were suspended in the Parliament, Lok Sabha on Tuesday suspended an additional 49 MPs for the remaining winter session of Parliament for ‘serious misconduct’. The MPs included Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, and Karti Chidambaram, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, NCP leader Supriya Sule, and Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav.
In total, 141 opposition Members of Parliament have been subjected to suspension from their respective houses until at least the conclusion of the winter session. This action was taken after the MPs demanded statements from the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, along with a discussion, regarding the Parliament security breach last week.
Speaking on the suspensions, Bachchan on Tuesday said, “I haven’t seen this type of thing in 18 years. This is a mockery of democracy. Only three women are left in the Rajya Sabha in opposition. (Gala sukh gaya hai humari koi sun nahi raha hai, jo hum kehna chahte hai). Our throats have gone dry trying to voice our concerns, but no one is listening to us. What I don’t understand is that in Sansad TV, our Chairman is shown, and if there is any other BJP leader, he will be shown or sometimes a woman but no matter what, the opposition is never shown. This is not democracy, this is a mockery of democracy. You sit in the chair and voice your concerns but what about our concerns? Yesterday so many of our opposition members were dismissed. What is this system of justice I want to know.”
She added, “We have been trying to speak since morning and above all we have been told that we were disturbing the house even though we were standing in our place and speaking. It is our right to speak. It’s our right to say what we want to say and in solidarity with all our MPs who were dismissed yesterday and with this unfair judgement of not dismissing the members who were in the well today we walked out.”
