Suspended RS members refuse to say sorry

A day after being marshaled out from the Rajya Sabha, two of the suspended members said there was no question of tendering an apology over their behaviour on the Women's Reservation Bill, as they had raised the cause of women from the Other Backward Classes, Dalit and minority groups, in the House.

"Even if our membership goes, we will not apologise," Kamal Akhtar of the Samajwadi Party told reporters outside Parliament House.

Seven members belonging to the SP, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party and an unattached Member of Parliament were suspended for their unruly behaviour in the House over the Women's Reservation Bill.

Ejaz Ali, unattached member and former member of the Janata Dal - United, said, "They (government) should apologise before the nation for throwing us out of the House by using marshals".

Both Akhtar and Ali were in the Parliament House complex, as they are not allowed to enter the Rajya Sabha, due to their suspension for the remaining part of the Budget session.

Akhtar asked, "Apologise for what? We are members of Parliament and duty bound to raise the views of the people. In fact, the government should apologise to the women from backward classes, Muslim and Dalit communities".

He alleged that the motion to suspend them from the House came from the government and not the Chairman.

"It was the dictatorship of the government which used force to keep us out of the House," he said.

Ali said merely an apology is not acceptable to them. "They (the government) have brought in a wrong Bill. We are very happy that we have been suspended for a cause," he added.

The unattached member took a dig at the Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left for uniting to keep out OBC, Muslim and Dalit women from the ambit of reservation.