In letter to the Rajya Sabha (RS) chairman, RS Deputy Chairman Harivansh Singh expressed deep anguish at the ‘humiliating’ conduct towards him in House, and announced a 24-hour fast.
Harivansh Singh said his fast will begin from Tuesday morning and will end tomorrow on the birthday of ‘rashtra kavi’ Ramdhari Singh Dinkar.
“My fast may perhaps inspire ‘self-purification’ in those who behaved insultingly towards me. Members engaged in violent conduct in the name of democracy and tried to frighten Chair. They defied every norm and convention of House. Whatever happened in front of me on Sept 20 has caused unimaginable loss to the dignity of the House,” he said.
Moreover, on Tuesday morning, the sit-in protest by eight suspended MPs on Parliament premises continued for the second day, with the Deputy Chairman offering them tea in the morning.
The suspended parliamentarians spent the night in the lawns near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue. AAP’s Sanjay Singh had posted a picture on Twitter from the protest site in the morning saying the “whole night was spent under the open sky in front of Bapu’s statue.”
“A senior MP told him that while bringing tea was a nice gesture, he was still in the wrong in what he did. He was told that he was the one who broke the rules,” a protesting MP said.
The protesting MPs did not accept the tea and snacks offered by the deputy chairman.
One of the eight suspended MPs, Ripun Bora of Congress said, “Harivansh Ji said he came to meet us as a colleague and not as Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha. He also brought some tea and snacks for us. We started this sit-in demonstration yesterday from 12 noon as a protest against our suspension.”
“We have been here all night. Nobody from the government came to enquire about us. Oppositions MPs including former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda came here to show solidarity with us. We took this pain for the cause of farmers of our country. Yesterday Leader of Opposition (LoP) was not allowed to speak for us and so we are demanding that LoP should be allowed to speak and demand the revocation of our suspension,” he added.
CPM MP KK Ragesh said, “This is for the first time that MPs are protesting here all through the night. It is an extraordinary situation and we have protested extraordinary. Our constitution right is blatantly denied. A black law was passed by parliament. We will continue our protest and it depends upon the response from House.”
