NCP chief Sharad Pawar said he is observing a day-long fast on Tuesday to protest against the suspension of eight Rajya Sabha members of the Upper House.
The MPs were suspended for the remaining part of the current session over their "misbehaviour" with the House deputy chairman during the passage of the farm bills on Sunday.
Addressing a press conference in Mumbai, Pawar, a Rajya Sabha member, also bemoaned the conduct of Deputy Chairman Harivansh Singh and the Narendra Modi government's decision of "bulldozing" the opposition in the House. Ironically, Harivansh Singh had also began a 24-hour fast on Tuesday morning to protest against the alleged misbehaviour of the eight MPs against him.
The eight MPs were expelled for expressing their opinion, Pawar said, adding the deputy chairman did not give priority to (House) rules.
In a letter to Rajya Sabha Chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu, Harivansh recounted the ruckus in the House on Sunday during the passage of farm bills, and said members engaged in "violent" conduct in the name of democracy, tried to frighten the Chair and tore to shreds every norm and convention of the House.
This sight of "disrobing of democracy" jolted his mind and heart and he could not sleep for the whole night, the Bihar MP wrote in the letter underscoring his agony and pain at the development. Harivansh claimed he hoped his fast would trigger a feeling of "self-purification" in the eight MPs.
