Nineteen opposition members were suspended from Rajya Sabha for a week Tuesday (July 26), provoking Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien to say that the government had turned Parliament into a “deep, dark chamber”. Seven of O’Brien’s Rajya Sabha colleagues were suspended, along with six MPs from the DMK, three from the TRS, two from the CPM, and one MP from the CPI. The MPs were suspended for “unruly behaviour”. On November 29 last year, 12 opposition members were suspended in Rajya Sabha on the very first day of the Winter Session for “their unprecedented acts of misconduct, contemptuous, unruly and violent behaviour and intentional attacks on security personnel” on August 11, the last day of the previous Monsoon Session.

Nineteen Rajya Sabha MPs of the Opposition suspended for a week, a day after four Lok Sabha Opposition MPs were suspended for the entire Monsoon Session. This was not a show of “enough is enough” firmness by the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Deputy Chairman of the Upper House. This cannot be passed off as action taken to “uphold the dignity of the House”, to punish “unruly behaviour” “misconduct” and “utter disregard” to the House and the authority of the Chair. A decision that effectively deprives 23 Opposition MPs of a voice in Parliament for a week or the entire session, must, in the first place, be avoided. If it must be taken, the bar must be set very high indeed. Nothing that transpired in either House over the last few days can be said to merit this extreme form of disciplinarianism. The suspensions come in a political context that makes them look even more jarring and disproportionate. Already beset by a fading of lustre that afflicts institutions in general with the passage of time, growing cynicism and the pressures of populism, Parliament is in particular need of resuscitation in times of a strong executive that feels less accountable to the legislature.