Indian opposition lawmakers protest against their suspension from parliament

NEW DELHI, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Opposition parties in India on Friday staged a protest here against the recent record suspension of 146 lawmakers from the two houses of the parliament.

The protest called by the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) was attended by leaders from Congress, left parties, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and other opposition parties of the coalition.

"The opposition is united. The country is united. The way this government of India is destroying democratic values and even parliamentary conventions, no one can digest this, and that is why the parties of the entire INDIA bloc are protesting here at Jantar Mantar. The same agitation is going on at the headquarters of states," Congress party lawmaker K C Venugopal said.

The lawmakers from the opposition parties were suspended for protesting the recent major security breach in the lower house of the Indian parliament and seeking a statement from federal home minister Amit Shah in the parliament on the issue.

The government maintained the lawmakers were suspended for disrupting proceedings of the houses.

Last week, two young men carrying smoke canisters emitting yellow smoke jumped from the visitors' gallery, running into the lower house while the proceedings were going on.

Around the same time, two others -- a man and a woman -- were detained outside parliament by the police, also with colored smoke canisters that exploded and emitted columns of yellow smoke.

Apart from the four, police have arrested two more people in connection with the case so far. They have reportedly told investigators that their objective was to draw attention to Manipur violence, unemployment and farmers' problems.

The speaker of the lower house said a high-level inquiry committee has been constituted for an in-depth investigation of the security breach.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the security breach incident as "very serious" and remarked in an interview with a local newspaper that there was "no need to debate" the issue but instead a "detailed investigation" should be carried out to find the people behind it.