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India's Parliament Building, photographed on May 27, 2023.
New Delhi CNN –
Opposition MPs are accusing the Indian government of an attack on democracy after dozens of them were suspended from parliament this week. It is the latest twist in a historic dispute between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a newly formed alliance that aims to replace it next year.
According to a tally by CNN affiliate CNN News18, House speakers have suspended a total of 141 opposition lawmakers – 95 from the lower house and 46 from the upper house. A human rights group called this a record.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP has a majority in both houses and is now expected to pass legislation almost unopposed for the remainder of the session, which ends on Friday.
The suspensions come after a serious security breach at Parliament last week when two men stormed the chamber, chanting slogans and releasing colored gas. Opposition MPs called for a parliamentary debate on the breach, but this was suspended by the respective speakers of the House of Representatives due to unrest.
“For the first time in my nearly 15-year career as a parliamentarian, I too entered the well of the House with a poster calling for a discussion on the recent security breach,” Shashi Tharoor, a suspended lawmaker from the main opposition Congress party, wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I did this in solidarity with my (congressional) colleagues who were wrongly suspended for demanding accountability from the government.”
Jairam Ramesh, another Congressman, called the suspensions a “complete purge.” The removal of opposition MPs was “so that draconian draft laws are passed without meaningful debate,” he claimed on X.
The New York-based Human Rights Foundation called the suspensions a “record number” in a statement Tuesday
Most of the suspended MPs are part of an alliance called INDIA, a coalition of opposition parties that Modi and the BJP want to defeat in next year's general elections, expected in May.
The BJP has repeatedly been accused by its critics of suppressing the opposition and undermining democracy in parliament. It has repeatedly denied the allegations.
CNN has reached out to the BJP for comment. To X, the party said The MPs were suspended because of their behavior in parliament.
In an interview with a Hindi-language newspaper on Sunday, Modi said the security breach was a serious matter that needed to be investigated but did not require a parliamentary debate.