AAP conducted a press conference in the presence of their Senior Leader and Suspended Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh and Rajya Sabha MPs ND Gupta and Sushil Kumar Gupta. Sanjay Singh addressed his suspension from the Rajya Sabha, highlighting that for the first time in the history of independent India, an MP has been punished twice for the same case. He also highlighted that BJP has been avoiding important issues like the violence in Manipur. He criticized Prime Minister Modi for diverting from pressing matters and using suspensions as a tactic against opposition voices.
Shri Sanjay Singh stated, “In the history of independent India this is for the first time a person is being prosecuted twice for one case. My suspension was a decision of this government, a letter was sent to me and today when the Parliamentary session is concluding, the suspension has been extended. It is surprising, I have never heard of anything like this. Yesterday I received a letter from the chairperson of the Rajya Sabha regarding the revocation of my suspension of taking the house in the agreement but now it’s been reversed today.”
“Yesterday I felt that the Prime Minister has lost his Mental Composure. He was repeatedly speaking about something else when he was supposed to speak about Manipur and its current violent state. The wife of a Kargil war veteran was paraded naked and was raped and that was the question raised in the Parliament but the government didn’t answer, they should be ashamed of themselves, instead of responding to the Manipur issue they are prosecuting Sanjay Singh”.
“I want to tell PM Modi that we are not afraid of these proceedings, we will not bend down, you are so arrogant that whosoever dares to speak against you, you suspend them, their membership is getting cancelled- be it Rahul Gandhi, Raghav Chadha, Derek O’Brien or Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Today I was listening to Piyush Goyal, and he was saying Sanjay Singh got bailed 56 times, I want to tell him our constitution framers might have given us the right to get bail with reasonable rationals, they have given for the dissent of the opposition. I got bailed 56 times, there is nothing wrong in this. I never got bailed for my personal affairs, I went against the dictatorial conduct of your government and I will not go just 56 but 156 times. If incidents like Manipur keep on happening, then we will go to every nook and corner of the country to tell everyone about your irresponsible behaviour and fight for the welfare of our people,” Shri Sanjay Singh added.
Referring to the letter that he received from the parliament on the decision of his suspension, he commented, “On a motion moved by Shri Piyush Goyal, leader of the house and adopted by the Rajya Sabha, Shri Sanjay Singh, MP of the Rajya Sabha has been suspended from the service of the house from 24th July 2023 for the remaining part of the current Monsoon Session. Suddenly you are saying Sanjay Singh’s suspension has been extended, how much do you fear Sanjay Singh? Since the INDIA alliance has been announced, Modiji is rattled, Manipur is crying and the PM is laughing, tell us the extent of shamelessness. He’s talking about everything but issues raised in the parliament. I will keep on raising my voice along with my party on the issues of violence in Manipur, inside and outside of the Parliament”.
On the occasion, MP and Deputy Leader of AAP in the Rajya Sabha, Shri ND Gupta said, “I want to explain to you about the business and rules of Rajya Sabha, since 2014 BJP led Central Government came into the power they have been nothing but dictatorial, they have been horse trading MLAs and MPs. Now they have started a new system of suspension, back in 2105 when AAP came into power in Delhi by winning 67 seats out of 70, they suspended a few MLAs but later on, the Court revoked the suspension. They have cited rule 256 of the Rajya Sabha to suspect Sanjay Singh, as the rule states, the chairman may, if he deems it necessary, name a member who disregards the authority of the chair or abuses the rules of the council by persistently and willfully obstructing the business thereof, as per this rule maximum suspension can be given till the remainder of the session which is today and cannot extend further. Without any reason, they have suspended me further and this is a grave violation of the rules and traditions of the parliament. Manipur is still burning but the PM is reminding us what happened 20-25 years ago in Manipur”.
Senior AAP leader and MP Sushil Kumar Gupta addressed the Press Conference and said, “BJP government wants a ‘voiceless parliament’, a parliament without any opposition, today BJP government has shattered all rules and orders of the house. Friday is a day for the Private Member Bill since I became the MP but the government overruled this precedent. In response, the opposition walked out collectively after 15 minutes. They tabled the suspension of Raghav Chadha and Sanjay Singh, which I requested for the discussion 6 times but they didn’t listen to me. I was present the day Sanjay Singh got suspended he didn’t do any misdeed, he wanted a discussion on the Manipur but within a minute leader of the house Piyush Goyal put the proposal to suspend him. Almost as if he wrote it before and with all the noise, without any proper discussion Sanjay Singh got suspended. In the upcoming 2024 elections, people will respond to them because the whole country is watching them.”
