The Evening Wrap: INDIA bloc to protest suspension of MPs on December 22

The opposition INDIA bloc will hold nationwide protests on December 22 against the recent suspensions of at least 141 members from the Parliament, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on December 19 following a meeting of the allied parties. This was the fourth meeting of the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) which saw the participation of 28 parties. “141 MPs being suspended is undemocratic. The issue we raised was not a wrong issue. We have been saying that Home Minister and Prime Minister should come to the House and brief the members of both the Houses,” Kharge said addressing a press conference. “They can speak outside but not in Parliament,” he said in reference PM Modi and Shah, adding that “Their intention is to end democracy.” On the anticipated announcement regarding the seat-sharing arrangement between the parties, Kharge said that the matter will be first discussed in States. “If we are unable to agree in any particular State, then the central leaders will intervene.” The Congress chief said that everyone was unanimous about joint programmes and that the alliance plans to hold 8-10 more meetings. Though, unlike the previous meetings of the bloc, this one did not see other opposition leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Uddhav Thackeray, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav attend the post-meeting press conference. 49 Opposition MPs suspended from Lok Sabha today, including Shashi Tharoor, Supriya Sule, Farooq Abdullah As many as 49 Opposition members of the Lok Sabha, including Supriya Sule, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Farooq Abdullah, have been named and suspended in the Winter session of the Parliament on December 19. They were alleged to have engaged in misconduct inside the chambers. INDIA bloc MPs have been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach in Parliament and revocation of the suspension of MPs. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, while moving a motion for the suspension of the MPs, accused the protesting members of being “frustrated” over the recent Assembly election results. “INDIA bloc MPs have been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach in Parliament on December 13. They had agreed not to bring placards. They are frustrated with their loss, so taking such steps. These people will not come back in the House next time if this behaviour continues,” Joshi said. Earlier on Monday 78 MPs were suspended from both Houses of Parliament. With this, the total number of suspended MPs in this session are 141, a figure unprecedented in the history of the Indian Parliament. Both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the protesting Opposition MPs were demanding a statement from Shah on last week’s security breach in the Lok Sabha, which led to the arrest of six people. As many as 27 questions posed by suspended Opposition members of Lok Sabha were deleted from the list of queries to be asked on Tuesday. Similarly, the names of several suspended MPs were removed from groups of members asking the same question to various ministers. The name of Hanuman Beniwal, who resigned from Lok Sabha after being elected as a member of the Rajasthan Assembly, was also deleted. Elgar Parishad case: Bombay HC grants bail to Gautam Navlakha; stays order for 3 weeks The Bombay High Court on December 19 granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case. A division bench headed by Justice A S Gadkari said Navlakha’s plea seeking bail was “allowed”. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) urged the court to stay operation of the order for a period of six weeks so that it could file an appeal in the Supreme Court. The bench stayed the order for three weeks. Navlakha, who was arrested in August 2018, was in November last year permitted by the Supreme Court to be placed under house arrest. He is residing in Navi Mumbai at present. The high court granted Navlakha bail on a surety of ₹1 lakh. He is the seventh accused in the case to be granted bail. In April this year, a special court had refused to grant bail to Navlakha, noting that there was prima facie evidence to show that the activist was an active member of banned outfit CPI (Maoist). In his appeal filed in the high court, Navlakha said the special court had erred while refusing bail to him. This is Navlakha’s second round of appeal in the high court seeking regular bail. Navlakha had earlier moved the high court after the special NIA court rejected his regular bail plea in September last year. The NIA had then opposed Navlakha’s bail plea, claiming that he had been introduced to a Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General for his recruitment, which shows his nexus with the organisation. The high court had, however, opined that the reasoning in the order of the special court was cryptic and did not contain analysis of the evidence relied upon by the prosecution’s view of this. The high court had ruled that the bail application requires fresh hearing by the special court, and had remanded the case back to the court. It had also directed the special judge to conclude the hearing within four weeks. Accordingly, Navlakha had moved the special court for re-hearing his case for regular bail. The special court had then re-heard the plea on the same pleadings and rejected the bail plea prompting the present appeal. The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017 which the police claim triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. As many as 16 activists have been arrested in the case of which five are currently out on bail. Scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferrira and Mahesh Raut are out on regular bail, while poet Varavara Rao is currently out on bail on health grounds. Navlakha is the seventh accused to be granted bail in this case. Listen to today’s episode of the In Focus podcast Decoding the three new criminal law Bills In August this year, the Union government introduced three Bills to overhaul the country’s criminal justice system. The were – the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 to replace the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973; and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 to replace the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Last week, the government withdrew these three bills and reintroduced newer versions of them. It has said claimed the recommendations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee have been incorporated in the newer versions. There has been little public debate or consultations on such a large scale legislative move to alter the base of the criminal justice system. What are the major changes envisaged in these bills? Do they enhance or curtail civil liberties? Is there merit in the fears that they seek to weaponise the police by expanding their powers? VHP invites L.K. Advani and M.M. Joshi for consecration ceremony of Ram temple A day after Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s general secretary and senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, Champat Rai, said that he had requested Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi “not to attend” the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple owing to their advanced age, senior VHP and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leaders met both the veterans and invited them for the event. Working president of VHP, Alok Kumar, along with senior Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leaders Ram Lal and Krishna Gopal, met Mr. Advani and invited him for the event on Tuesday. The VHP also released a picture of Mr. Kumar and others meeting Mr. Joshi at his residence and handing over the invite for the consecration ceremony of the temple. The picture was released a day after their visit. Mr. Advani and Mr. Joshi, both Bharatiya Janata Party veterans, were at the forefront of the Ram temple movement. In a statement after the meetings, Mr. Kumar said in a post on X, “Invited Lal Krishna Advani ji and Murli Manohar Joshi ji, the pioneers of Ram Mandir movement, to attend the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024. Both the seniors said that they will make every effort to come.” Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Kumar said that he, on behalf of entire VHP family, has requested that the two leaders “must attend” the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple. “Advani ji’s daughter was concerned about the logistics of his travel to Ayodhya which is natural considering his age. We told them that the VHP will try and arrange whatever is required to make his visit comfortable. He said that he will try his best to come,” said Mr. Kumar. He added that Mr. Joshi had said that “he will see if he can come”. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr. Rai had said, “Advani ji ka aana anivarya hai, magar mai chahta hu wo na aave” (Mr. Advani’s presence is necessary but I don’t want him to come). He repeated the same thing for Mr. Joshi as well, and said both BJP veterans were “too old” to travel in harsh winters. Reacting to the controversy that erupted over Mr. Rai’s statement, Mr. Kumar said his words were blown out of context. “We couldn’t have imagined Ram temple movement without Joshi ji and Advani ji. Champat Rai ji was only concerned about the health of the leaders. We all are concerned about it but feel they must come,” he further said. Speaking about the other invitees for the temple inauguration, Mr. Kumar said the chiefs of all Opposition parties are being invited. He added that from the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will be given invites. In Brief: The government on Tuesday said it had spent ₹967.46 crore through the Central Bureau of Communication for publicity of its schemes in the print media from 2019-20 to 2023-24. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) releases awareness/publicity campaigns through print media in accordance with the Print Media Advertisement Policy, 2020. “The details of expenditure incurred by CBC, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, on awareness/publicity campaigns about schemes and programmes of the government of India through print media from 2019-20 to 2023-24 (till 12.12.2023) is ₹967.46 crore.” Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 19 December 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( INDIA bloc to hold nationwide protests on December 22 against ‘undemocratic’ suspension of MPs: Kharge The [opposition INDIA bloc will hold nationwide protests on December 22 against the recent suspensions of at least 141 members from the Parliament]( Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on December 19 following a meeting of the allied parties. This was the fourth meeting of the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) which saw the participation of 28 parties. “141 MPs being suspended is undemocratic. The issue we raised was not a wrong issue. We have been saying that Home Minister and Prime Minister should come to the House and brief the members of both the Houses,” Kharge said addressing a press conference. “They can speak outside but not in Parliament,” he said in reference PM Modi and Shah, adding that “Their intention is to end democracy.” On the anticipated announcement regarding the seat-sharing arrangement between the parties, Kharge said that the matter will be first discussed in States. “If we are unable to agree in any particular State, then the central leaders will intervene.” The Congress chief said that everyone was unanimous about joint programmes and that the alliance plans to hold 8-10 more meetings. Though, unlike the previous meetings of the bloc, this one did not see other opposition leaders like Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, Uddhav Thackeray, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav attend the post-meeting press conference. 49 Opposition MPs suspended from Lok Sabha today, including Shashi Tharoor, Supriya Sule, Farooq Abdullah [As many as 49 Opposition members of the Lok Sabha, including Supriya Sule, Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Farooq Abdullah, have been named and suspended]( in the [Winter session of the Parliament]( on December 19. They were alleged to have engaged in misconduct inside the chambers. INDIA bloc MPs have been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach in Parliament and revocation of the suspension of MPs. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, while moving a motion for the suspension of the MPs, accused the protesting members of being “frustrated” over the recent Assembly election results. “INDIA bloc MPs have been demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach in Parliament on December 13. They had agreed not to bring placards. They are frustrated with their loss, so taking such steps. These people will not come back in the House next time if this behaviour continues,” Joshi said. Earlier on Monday 78 MPs were suspended from both Houses of Parliament. With this, the total number of suspended MPs in this session are 141, a figure unprecedented in the history of the Indian Parliament. Both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the protesting Opposition MPs were demanding a statement from Shah on last week’s security breach in the Lok Sabha, which led to the arrest of six people. As many as 27 questions posed by suspended Opposition members of Lok Sabha were deleted from the list of queries to be asked on Tuesday. Similarly, the names of several suspended MPs were removed from groups of members asking the same question to various ministers. The name of Hanuman Beniwal, who resigned from Lok Sabha after being elected as a member of the Rajasthan Assembly, was also deleted. Elgar Parishad case: Bombay HC grants bail to Gautam Navlakha; stays order for 3 weeks [The Bombay High Court on December 19 granted bail to activist Gautam Navlakha, arrested in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist links case](. A division bench headed by Justice A S Gadkari said Navlakha’s plea seeking bail was “allowed”. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) urged the court to stay operation of the order for a period of six weeks so that it could file an appeal in the Supreme Court. The bench stayed the order for three weeks. Navlakha, who was arrested in August 2018, was in November last year permitted by the Supreme Court to be placed under house arrest. He is residing in Navi Mumbai at present. The high court granted Navlakha bail on a surety of ₹1 lakh. He is the seventh accused in the case to be granted bail. In April this year, a special court had refused to grant bail to Navlakha, noting that there was prima facie evidence to show that the activist was an active member of banned outfit CPI (Maoist). In his appeal filed in the high court, Navlakha said the special court had erred while refusing bail to him. This is Navlakha’s second round of appeal in the high court seeking regular bail. Navlakha had earlier moved the high court after the special NIA court rejected his regular bail plea in September last year. The NIA had then opposed Navlakha’s bail plea, claiming that he had been introduced to a Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) General for his recruitment, which shows his nexus with the organisation. The high court had, however, opined that the reasoning in the order of the special court was cryptic and did not contain analysis of the evidence relied upon by the prosecution’s view of this. The high court had ruled that the bail application requires fresh hearing by the special court, and had remanded the case back to the court. It had also directed the special judge to conclude the hearing within four weeks. Accordingly, Navlakha had moved the special court for re-hearing his case for regular bail. The special court had then re-heard the plea on the same pleadings and rejected the bail plea prompting the present appeal. The case relates to alleged inflammatory speeches made at the Elgar Parishad conclave held in Pune on December 31, 2017 which the police claim triggered violence the next day near the Koregaon-Bhima war memorial on the outskirts of the western Maharashtra city. As many as 16 activists have been arrested in the case of which five are currently out on bail. Scholar-activist Anand Teltumbde, lawyer Sudha Bharadwaj, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferrira and Mahesh Raut are out on regular bail, while poet Varavara Rao is currently out on bail on health grounds. Navlakha is the seventh accused to be granted bail in this case. Listen to today’s episode of the In Focus podcast Decoding the three new criminal law Bills [In August this year, the Union government introduced three Bills to overhaul the country’s criminal justice system](. The were – the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 to replace the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973; and the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, 2023 to replace the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. Last week, the government withdrew these three bills and reintroduced newer versions of them. It has said claimed the recommendations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee have been incorporated in the newer versions. There has been little public debate or consultations on such a large scale legislative move to alter the base of the criminal justice system. What are the major changes envisaged in these bills? Do they enhance or curtail civil liberties? Is there merit in the fears that they seek to weaponise the police by expanding their powers? VHP invites L.K. Advani and M.M. Joshi for consecration ceremony of Ram temple A day after Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust’s general secretary and senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, Champat Rai, said that he had requested Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi “not to attend” the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple owing to their advanced age, [senior VHP and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leaders met both the veterans and invited them for the event](. Working president of VHP, Alok Kumar, along with senior Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) leaders Ram Lal and Krishna Gopal, met Mr. Advani and invited him for the event on Tuesday. The VHP also released a picture of Mr. Kumar and others meeting Mr. Joshi at his residence and handing over the invite for the consecration ceremony of the temple. The picture was released a day after their visit. Mr. Advani and Mr. Joshi, both Bharatiya Janata Party veterans, were at the forefront of the Ram temple movement. In a statement after the meetings, Mr. Kumar said in a post on X, “Invited Lal Krishna Advani ji and Murli Manohar Joshi ji, the pioneers of Ram Mandir movement, to attend the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024. Both the seniors said that they will make every effort to come.” Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Kumar said that he, on behalf of entire VHP family, has requested that the two leaders “must attend” the consecration ceremony of the Ram temple. “Advani ji’s daughter was concerned about the logistics of his travel to Ayodhya which is natural considering his age. We told them that the VHP will try and arrange whatever is required to make his visit comfortable. He said that he will try his best to come,” said Mr. Kumar. He added that Mr. Joshi had said that “he will see if he can come”. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr. Rai had said, “Advani ji ka aana anivarya hai, magar mai chahta hu wo na aave” (Mr. Advani’s presence is necessary but I don’t want him to come). He repeated the same thing for Mr. Joshi as well, and said both BJP veterans were “too old” to travel in harsh winters. Reacting to the controversy that erupted over Mr. Rai’s statement, Mr. Kumar said his words were blown out of context. “We couldn’t have imagined Ram temple movement without Joshi ji and Advani ji. Champat Rai ji was only concerned about the health of the leaders. We all are concerned about it but feel they must come,” he further said. Speaking about the other invitees for the temple inauguration, Mr. Kumar said the chiefs of all Opposition parties are being invited. He added that from the Congress, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury will be given invites. In Brief: The [government on Tuesday said it had spent ₹967.46 crore through the Central Bureau of Communication for publicity of its schemes in the print media from 2019-20 to 2023-24](. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the Central Bureau of Communication (CBC) releases awareness/publicity campaigns through print media in accordance with the Print Media Advertisement Policy, 2020. “The details of expenditure incurred by CBC, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, on awareness/publicity campaigns about schemes and programmes of the government of India through print media from 2019-20 to 2023-24 (till 12.12.2023) is ₹967.46 crore.” Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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