most opposition MPs barred from access to Parliament

More than half of India’s opposition lawmakers have been excluded from the current session of the Indian Parliament for demanding to debate a demonstration during which a smoke bomb was thrown into the assembly hall. The 141 suspended lawmakers belong to a 26-party opposition group called India (acronym for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance).

On Wednesday, December 13, a man interrupted the work of legislators by brandishing a smoke bomb in the Parliament chamber. The day after this intrusion, 14 deputies were excluded from the chamber for protesting against this attack on the security of Parliament and, on Monday, 78 other opposition legislators were suspended for the remainder of the parliamentary session, which ends Friday.

“The opposition is being crushed”

A new suspension was implemented on Tuesday. After shouting slogans inside Parliament, demanding the resignation of powerful Home Minister Amit Shah, 49 other MPs were suspended. “The opposition is being completely crushed so that dangerous bills can be passed without any meaningful debate”, was indignant a suspended MP and leader of the opposition party, the Congress, Jairam Ramesh, on X (formerly Twitter). According to the Freedom House organization, India, under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has fallen sharply in terms of political rights and civil liberties.