Adhir Chowdhury plans to move Supreme Court against suspension from Lok Sabha

 If one or two words used by me were misconstrued as offensive, Speaker could have deleted them, says Congress leader

Adhir Chowdhury at the news conference in New Delhi on Saturday.:PTI Photo

Sanjay K. Jha, TT, New Delhi, 13.08.23  : The Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Chowdhury, has said he is contemplating moving the Supreme Court against his suspension eve n before his case is examined by the Privileges Committee.

Pointing to the incongruity of the process, he said: “I have been hanged before the trial.”

Replying to a question about his suspension from the Lok Sabha, Chowdhury said: “There is a deliberate design by the government to throttle the voice of the Opposition. This retrogressive step will undermine the spirit of democracy. Approaching the Supreme Court is under consideration.”

Congress spokesperson and lawyer Manish Tewari had made such an indication on Friday when he said: “This is a fit case for the Supreme Court. The weaponisation of privilege motions to stifle dissent militates expressly against the provisions of Article 105 (1) of the Constitution of India that protects the freedom of speech and expression of MPs on the floor of the House. Chowdhury’s suspension is unfortunate. It has profound implications for democracy and freedom of speech in Parliament and legislatures.”

The circular announcing Chowdhury's suspension doesn’t mention any specific violation of rules even as the ruling BJP was angry at him for purportedly describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “blind king” and “Nirav Modi”.

Chowdhury insisted that he had no intention to hurt anybody’s sentiment and the Hindi word “nirav” was used because it meant "silence" and Prime Minister Modi hadn’t spoken anything on Manipur for almost three months.

Chowdhury argued: “If any word used by a member is unparliamentary, the Speaker can expunge it. If one or two words used by me were misconstrued as offensive, the Speaker could have deleted them. There was no need to apply unsavoury instruments and suspend me. If I think the court can resolve the issue in the peculiar situation, I can go to court.”

The circular issued by the Lok Sabha secretariat doesn’t specify whether Chowdhury was punished for using any particular word. It says: “That this House having taken serious note of the gross, deliberate and repeated misconduct of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in utter disregard to the House and authority of the Chair, resolves that the matter of the misconduct be referred to the Committee of Privileges of the House for further investigation… and Chowdhury be suspended from the service till the committee submits its report.”

The issue is serious because Chowdhury heads the Public Accounts Committee, which examines the government’s expenses and Comptroller and Auditor General reports.

Chowdhury said: “We come from far-off places to put across people’s views in Parliament. The Manipur situation is serious and we wanted the Prime Minister to come to Parliament and speak about it. But an atmosphere is being created that those who are with the government can say anything, insult anybody, use any language, but the Opposition members have to say only what doesn’t hurt the RSS, BJP and Modi.”

Asked why he didn’t agree to the BJP's demand for an apology, he said: “You saw the bedlam in the House at that time. So many BJP members had descended into the Well of the House. The wrestler from Uttar Pradesh (Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh) was menacingly gesturing to harm me physically. I didn’t hear who is asking for an apology. I can apologise if I committed a mistake. But I can’t apologise to satiate the thirst of vengeance.”

Suspension of members was a rare phenomenon, but has become routine now. In the Rajya Sabha, several members have been suspended over the past few years. While AAP leader Sanjay Singh is under suspension, his young colleague Raghav Chadha has also been suspended. Congress MP Rajni Patil has been suspended for two sessions.