The INDIA bloc will hold a nationwide protest against the mass suspension of opposition MPs from the Parliament on Friday. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will speak at Jantar Mantar at 11 am. Party chief Mallikarjun Kharge will also attend the event.
Delhi Congress president Arvinder Singh Lovely said INDIA alliance partners will join the the protest at Jantar Mantar. AAP MPs N D Gupta, Sandeep Patak, Sant Balbir Seecehwal and Sanjeev Arora will join the INDIA bloc.
In Patna, RJD, JDU and Congress leaders will hold a joint protest. A nationwide protest has also been scheduled at all district headquarters.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor will attend the protest at Jantar Mantar. "It is appropriate to protest and all of us will be at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. The INDIA alliance protest will happen everywhere (Friday) morning in all the states because we want to show the public that if they'd run Parliament like this and won't listen to the opposition then they are ruining the democracy," said Tharoor.
On Thursday, INDIA bloc MPs marched from Parliament to Vijay Chowk here to protest the suspension of opposition lawmakers carrying a huge 'Save Democracy' banner and placards with messages like 'Opposition MPs Suspended' 'Parliament Caged' and 'Democracy Expelled'.
Earlier, Kharge had alleged the suspensions were part of a "conspiracy" to convert the Parliament into a platform for the ruling party. "The entire country is watching how the BJP is strangulating democracy by arbitrarily passing key bills without discussion or debate," he said.
"The biggest challenge is that the people holding constitutional positions, who are responsible for providing protection to the opposition MPs, are themselves becoming a part of party politics and doing politics using caste, region and occupation as their shield. "They have failed to fulfil their obligations under the Constitution. The whole country is watching it," he said, in an apparent attack on the Lok Sabha speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman over the suspension of opposition members.