Congress Leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Suspended From Lok Sabha For "Repeated Misconduct"

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a Congress leader and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, has been suspended from the lower house due to "repeated misconduct."

The suspension is pending an investigation by the privileges committee.

During the final day of the debate on the no-confidence motion against the Centre, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi proposed a resolution for Chowdhury's suspension.

Joshi alleged that Chowdhury disrupts the house whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other ministers are speaking. The resolution was passed through a voice vote.

The Congress party criticised the action taken against its floor leader, describing it as "unbelievable" and "undemocratic."

"Condemn the autocracy," said Manickam Tagore, the Congress whip in Lok Sabha.

During the house session, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Joshi expressed his disappointment with Chowdhury's "habitual" and "most unfortunate" behaviour, saying that "despite repeated warnings he has not improved himself.”

“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,” Joshi said.

In a video posted by news agency ANI, Chowdhury says, "...I have not insulted PM Modi. Modi ji speaks on everything but on Manipur issue. He is sitting 'Nirav', which means sitting silent. 'Nirav' means to be silent. My intention was not to insult PM Modi...

"PM Modi did not feel that he was insulted, his courtiers (darbari) felt so and brought this proposal against me. I came to know that (the matter) has been referred to the privilege committee and I have been suspended..."

Previously, the opposition had walked out of the house while the Prime Minister was responding to the no-confidence motion. They expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of mention of Manipur during the first 90 minutes of his speech.

BJP MP Virendra Singh was also reprimanded by the Speaker for his unruly behaviour. However, Singh promptly apologised to the chair for his actions.