New Delhi: Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan raised a different kind of issue being faced by the Opposition MPs after she walked out of the Rajya Sabha in protest against the slew of suspensions from the parliament.
"Our washrooms are in dreadful condition (Hamara washroom itna bhayanak hai)", she said further accusing Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar of preventing her from speaking.
"We have been trying to speak since morning. The Leader of the House has said that we will see how much patience you have. The House proceedings will go on till 11 pm tonight. They take water and loo breaks every five minutes. Even our washrooms are terrible," Bachchan said, reports NDTV.
The actor-turned-politician also hit out at the Centre for trying to get the bills passed without any discussion: "They are using unfair and unjust measures If you wanted to pass the bill, do it just like that. What's the point of doing 'ayes and noes. Why this drama?"
Two other women Rajya Sabha MPs, Trinamool Congress' Dola Sen and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi were also accompanying Ms Bachchan. They are the only women MPs who have not been suspended from the Rajya Sabha.
A day after 78 MPs were suspended from the Parliament, an additional 49 MPs were suspended on Tuesday for the remaining winter session of Parliament for ‘serious misconduct’.
As of now, 141 Opposition MPs stand suspended from the Parliament including Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, and Karti Chidambaram, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, NCP leader Supriya Sule, and Samajwadi Party's Dimple Yadav.
The suspensions came after the MPs demanded a statement from the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, along with a discussion, regarding the Parliament security breach on December 13. The opposition MPs raised slogans and disrupted proceedings of the House that saw repeated adjournments since morning.
After getting suspended from the Parliament, the leaders staged a protest on the stairs of the Parliament building when Trinamool Congress leader Kalyan Banerjee broke into an impromptu skit mocking Vice President Dhankhar.
Rahul Gandhi was seen capturing the scene on his phone. The incident has sparked a political controversy.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar expressed his pain over the Trinamool MP mimicking him, terming the actions as "shameful" and "insult" to his background as a farmer and "position as a Jat". The incident also drew sharp reactions from the BJP.