A day after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Raghav Chadha was suspended from Parliament for ‘gross violation of rules’, he changed his bio on X (formerly Twitter) to “Suspended Member of Parliament” on Saturday.
He was suspended from Rajya Sabha on Friday for “gross violation of rules, misconduct, defiant attitude and contemptuous conduct”, pending a report by the privileges committee.
The motion was moved by Leader of the House Piyush Goyal who sought action against the AAP leader for including names of some members of the Upper House without their consent in a proposed select committee for the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
The allegations of fraud were made by Home Minister Amit Shah in the Rajya Sabha on Monday after five MPs of the Upper House — S Phangnon Konyak, Narhari Amin and Sudhanshu Trivedi of BJP, M Thambidurai of AIADMK and Sasmit Patra of BJD — said that their name was included in the proposal without their consent.
Shah had termed it a breach of privilege of the House and called for the matter to be referred to the privileges committee.
In a video statement issued on Friday night, Chadha said, “Namaskar, I am suspended Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha. Yes, I have been suspended from the Rajya Sabha today. What was my crime?”
“My crime was exposing the BJP’s double standards on Delhi’s statehood and asking them to follow ‘Advani-vaad’ and ‘Vajpayee-vad’. The fact that a 34-year-old MP showed them a mirror and held them accountable, left them scarred.
“The way in which the BJP orchestrated the suspension of Rahul Gandhi from Parliament indicates their willingness to employ similar tactics to suspend and subsequently expel any AAP MP without hesitation,” he said.
“My suspension serves as a stark message from the BJP to today’s youth: If you dare to ask questions, we will crush your voice. I was suspended for asking tough questions that left the BJP, the world’s largest party, without answers through my speech in Parliament on Delhi Service Bill,” he added.
Chadha became the second AAP MP to be suspended from Rajya Sabha during Parliament’s Monsoon session, which began on July 20. It concluded on Friday. On July 24, senior party leader Sanjay Singh was suspended from the Upper House.
In the Lok Sabha, AAP MP Sushil Kumar Rinku was suspended from Lok Sabha for unruly behaviour on August 3.