Parliament winter session: India opposition fury as 141 MPs suspended
On Monday, the opposition accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of attacking democracy after a record 78 MPs were suspended in one day.
The governing BJP has accused the opposition leaders of deliberately disrupting parliament proceedings.
Six people have been arrested so far in the case, with police charging the four protesters under a stringent anti-terror law.
Police have not officially disclosed a motive, but media reports and the families of the accused have said the protesters were unemployed and wanted to express their frustration with the government’s policies
Most of the suspended MPs are part of the INDIA alliance, a coalition of opposition parties that hopes to take on Mr Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in next year’s general election.
The alliance has 142 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha - the lower house of parliament - of which 95 have now been suspended. It has 101 MPs in the 250-member upper house or Rajya Sabha (a few seats are vacant) - of these, 46 have been suspended.
Some opposition MPs including Mr Kharge have alleged that the government has deliberately suspended many opposition leaders to pass important bills without debate.
