Amritsar MP learning ropes the hard way

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 24

It was the proverbial baptism by fire for Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Congress MP from Amritsar, who participated in his first major opposition protest inside Parliament today. It was a controversial protest that saw six of Aujla’s co-protesters suspended from the House proceedings for five sittings.

Aujla escaped courtesy his moves to stick to vocal agitation rather than physical.

Dressed in crisp formals unlike his other colleagues who prefer kurta pyjamas, Aujla not only sustained through the hour-long protest in the Well of the House pre-lunch, he emerged in the forefront of sloganeering, a space occupied so far by young, firebrand Congress MPs Gaurav Gogoi from Kaliabor, Assam; Sushmita Dev from Silchar, Assam; Ranjeet Ranjan from Supaul, Bihar; and Rajeev Satav from Hingoli, Maharashtra.

A Congress leader was later heard saying, “Thankfully, we have one more person who can lead the protests in the House where it is difficult to sustain your agitation for an hour when the Chair is reluctant to relent on opposition demands.”

Aujla’s slogan lines today on the controversial Congress motion of adjournment of Question Hour to discuss mob lynchings were, “khoon kharaba band karo” and “nafrat ki raajneeti band karo”. Along with his colleagues Gogoi, Ranjan and Satav, Aujla took turns to lead the protest, while his Ludhiana counterpart Ravneet Bittu arrived on the scene much later. Santokh Choudhry from Jalandhar also participated in the protest.

All Congress MPs from Punjab were also among opposition MPs who sat on a dharna inside the House. None of them, however, crossed the limits of agitation prescribed under Rule 374 A of the Rules of Conduct of Proceedings of Lok Sabha, which bars MPs from unruly behavior.

This Rule says, “Notwithstanding anything contained in rules 373 and 374, in the event of grave disorder occasioned by a member coming into the Well of the House or abusing the rules persistently and willfully obstructing its business by shouting slogans or otherwise, such member shall, on being named by the Speaker, stand automatically suspended from the service of the House for five consecutive sittings or the remainder of the session, whichever is less.”

Aujla was noticed even more considering his predecessor in Lok Sabha, Capt Amarinder Singh, the CM of Punjab, would barely be present in the House to attend proceedings. Aujla, however, is a regular.