“We will consider withdrawal of suspension only after suspended members apologise for their behaviour in Rajya Sabha,”  Ravi Shankar Prasad Union Law and Justice Minister told the media outside Parliament on Tuesday. His statement came after the Congress led other Opposition parties, and staged a walkout from the Upper House of Parliament, demanding that the suspension of the eight other members be revoked. 

Prasad, however, has maintained that he “expected the Congress would oppose such unruly behaviour by Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha,” reported NDTV, “We have never seen a Congress MP dancing on the Rajya Sabha table and tear papers,” added Prasad. He maintained that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led NDA government had a clear majority in the Rajya Sabha for passing the farm Bills on Sunday, which led to the current scenario of protests and suspensions unfolding.

He earlier expressed his solidarity with RS deputy chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh for the latter’s “humiliation” and “hurt”

माननीय हरिवंश जी!
आपका ह्रदय से अभिनन्दन।
राज्य सभा में उपसभापति पद पर हुए अपमान से आप आहात हैं और पूरा देश भी। महामहिम राष्ट्रपति को लिखा आपका पत्र बहुत प्रेरणादायी है। (1/3) pic.twitter.com/jwA3kZUUE1

— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) September 22, 2020

Harivansh Narayan Singh, had written a long letter detailing his view of the manner of dissent expressed by Opposition leaders who were demanding a democratic vote on the farmers’ bill. 

Apart from declaring that he will “fast” for a day, he felt insulted as the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman, when the Opposition MPs rebelled. He invoked Bihar, his humble upbringing, connection with Bihar, being influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, Lohia, JP etc. Harivansh Singh also went to the eight suspended Rajya Sabha MPs taking them tea and snacks. 

While it seems that they did not partake, this moved Prime Minister Narendra Modi who tweeted that he was impressed that Bihar’s ethos had inspired Harivansh Singh, an MP from Bihar to be “statesman like” in his conduct. The PM was also impressed that the RS Dy Chairman “personally” went to “serve tea to those who attacked and insulted him a few days ago”, and congratulated him.

To personally serve tea to those who attacked and insulted him a few days ago as well as those sitting on Dharna shows that Shri Harivansh Ji has been blessed with a humble mind and a big heart. It shows his greatness. I join the people of India in congratulating Harivansh Ji.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 22, 2020

However, as TMC member and MP Derek o Brien had stated earlier, the Opposition was not going to “just sit and watch” while he said “on Sunday September 20, the government murdered parliamentary democracy. They broke every rule of #Parliament. Did they hope that the opposition would just sit and watch?” He had also shared a nine minute video to explain what happened.

Around 1pm on Sunday September 20, the government murdered parliamentary democracy. They broke every rule of #Parliament.
Did they hope that the opposition would just sit and watch?

Here’s a 9 min video. pic.twitter.com/HMZbFiSXpo

— Derek O’Brien | ডেরেক ও’ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) September 20, 2020

He also changed his profile photo in protest:h

#NewProfilePic pic.twitter.com/UZ99MBC8dI

— Derek O’Brien | ডেরেক ও’ব্রায়েন (@derekobrienmp) September 22, 2020

The Rajya Sabha MPs had sat on an all-night vigil at Gandhi Statue in the Parliament compound. And were visited by their colleagues including Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who said he went to “express solidarity with the eight suspended MPs” 

Exiting Parliament, stopped by the lawns near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue to express solidarity with the eight suspended Rajya Sabha MPs who’re on an all-night vigil. Spoke w/ ⁦@derekobrienmp⁩, ⁦@SATAVRAJEEV⁩ (who spent his birthday here!), E.Kareem & ⁦@manojkjhadu⁩ pic.twitter.com/JkPKsDVX62

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) September 21, 2020

Maharashtra’s political patriarch Sharad Pawar’s also announced a day-long fast to show his support to the eight suspended Rajya Sabha MPs. The opposition also boycotted the proceedings of the Lok Sabha, hours after it walked out of the Rajya Sabha reported NDTV.

Earlier in the day, according to the news report the Opposition had said it will boycott the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha till three key demands, including revoking the suspension of eight members, are met. The eight members of the Rajya Sabha were suspended on Monday for the rest of the session over the chaos in the House during Sunday’s passing of the farm bills. 

The members, including Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien, Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay singh, Congress’s Rajeev Satav and CPM’s KK Ragesh, refused to leave the complex. 

Related:

Agricultural Bills passed sans votes! Nation-wide, farmers rise in anger, Oppn United
The end of Parliament Democracy: Farmers’ Unions decry passage of Agri Bills in RS
Amendments to agricultural laws, dangerous for farmers: National Unions
Harsimrat Kaur Badal’s resignation, a public warning from Punjab farmers?

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The Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch have put together an analysis of the criminal backgrounds and assets of 229 Rajya Sabha MPs. The report titled, ‘Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other details of Sitting Rajya Sabha MPs 2020’ states that 54 (24%) of the Rajya Sabha MPs have declared criminal cases against themselves and 203 (89%) are crorepatis.

Criminal Background

Out of the 54 (24%) who have declared criminal cases against themselves, 28 (12%) have declared that they have been booked in serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and rape. The MPs have also been booked under charges of criminal conspiracy, punishment for rioting, armed with deadly weapons, fabricating false evidence, criminal intimidation, mischief by fire or explosive substance, attempt to commit culpable homicide and charges related to intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace among others.

One Rajya Sabha MP namely Bhonsle Shrimant Chh. Udayanraje Pratapsingh maharaj (BJP) from Maharashtra has declared cases related to murder (IPC section 302). Also, as many as four Rajya Sabha MPs have declared cases to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307).

Out of the four Rajya Sabha MPs who have declared cases related to crimes against women, KC Venugopal from the Indian National Congress (INC) from Rajasthan has declared a case related to rape (IPC Section 376).

A party –wise analysis of Rajya Sabha MPs with criminal cases – 14(18%) out of 77 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, 8 (20%) out of 40 Rajya Sabha MPs from INC, 2 (15%) out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs from AITC, 3(33%) out of 9 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJD, 3(50%) out of 6 Rajya Sabha MPs from YSRCP and 2(25%) out of 8 Rajya Sabha MPs from SP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

A party –wise analysis of Rajya Sabha MPs with serious criminal cases – 5(6%) out of 77 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, 6 (15%) out of 40 Rajya Sabha MPs from INC, 1 (8%) out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs from AITC, 1(11%) out of 9 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJD, 3(50%) out of 6 Rajya Sabha MPs from YSRCP and 3(60%) out of 5 Rajya Sabha MPs from RJD have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

A state-wise analysis shows that Delhi has the highest percentage of Rajya Sabha MPs with declared criminal cases at 67%. Bihar comes next at 53%, followed by Kerala and Maharashtra. West Bengal has the lowest percentage (13%) of Rajya Sabha MPs with declared criminal cases.

However, the highest number of MPs with declared criminal cases are from Uttar Pradesh (30), followed by Maharashtra (19), Tamil Nadu (18), West Bengal (16) and Bihar (15).

Details of current Rajya Sabha MPs who lost earlier elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies but later elected to Rajya Sabha

Out of the 50 Rajya Sabha MPs who had lost earlier elections, 12 (24%) have declared criminal cases and 10 (20%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Financial Background

Out of the 229 sitting Rajya Sabha MPs, 203 (89%) are crorepatis. Out of the 203, 86 (37%) have assets of Rs. 10 crores and above, 36 (16%) have assets worth Rs. 5 crores and above and 81 (35%) have assets worth Rs. 1 crore and above. Only 10% (22) MPs have assets ranging between Rs. 20 lakhs to 1 crore and only 2% (4) MPs have assets of less than Rs. 20 lakh. As many as 69 (90%) of 77 MPs, followed by the INC which has 37 (93%) of 40 MPs have declared assets valued more than Rs. 1 crore.

The average of assets per Rajya Sabha MP is Rs. 62.67 crores. The average assets owned by BJP MPs stand at Rs. 27.74 crores and INC MPs stand at Rs. 38.96 crores.

The top three Rajya Sabha MPs with high assets are Mahendra Prasad from JD (U) Bihar, Alla Ayodhya Rami Reddy from YSRCP Andhra Pradesh and Bachchan Jaya Amitabh from SP Uttar Pradesh with assets worth Rs. 4078 crore, Rs. 2577 crore and Rs. 1001 crore respectively.

The three MPs with the lowest assets – valued at less than Rs. 20 lakhs are Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba from BJP Manipur, Sanjay Singh AAP Delhi and Samir Oraon BJP Jharkhand with assets worth Rs. 5 lakhs, 6 lakhs and 18 lakhs respectively.

Uttar Pradesh (28) has the highest number of crorepati MPs, followed by Maharashtra (18) and Tamil Nadu (17).

Out of the 50 Rajya Sabha MPs who had lost earlier LS Elections but were elected to Rajya Sabha, 42 (84%) are crorepatis. Among major parties, 13 (100%) out of 13 Rajya Sabha MPs from INC, 9 (75%) out of 12 Rajya Sabha MPs from BJP, 3(100%) out of 3 Rajya Sabha MPs from SP and 4(67%) out of 6 Rajya Sabha MPs from AITC have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore. The average assets of these Rajya Sabha MPs is Rs. 77.40 crores.

The entire report by ADR may be read below.

Related:

Odisha Election Watch and ADR India analyze election expenses of MLAs in state assembly elections

BJP spent highest on publicity; travel of party leaders in 2019 LS elections, reports ADR

BJP gets lion’s share of donations in 2018 – 2019; a 70% increase in funding from ’17 – 18

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