Indian opposition parties condemned a move to suspend 12 lawmakers on Monday for "violent behaviour", and in a joint statement branded the decision as "unwarranted and undemocratic".
Priyanka Chaturvedi, a member of the ultra-nationalist Shiv Sena party and one of the MPs to be suspended, accused the Indian government of "silencing the voices of those who speak against them".
According to an official note from parliament, the 12 opposition lawmakers were suspended for "obstructing the business of the House through their unprecedented acts".
"This House ... strongly condemns the utter disregard to the authority of the Chair, complete abuse of rules of the House persistently thereby willfully obstructing the business of House through their unprecedented acts of misconduct, contemptuous, unruly and violent behaviour and intentional attacks on security personnel on the last day of the 254th Session of Rajya Sabha, ie 11 August," the notice reads.
During the previous session of the Indian Parliament, the Opposition parties who were protesting over the Pegasus IT row and the contentious farm laws caused constant disruption and adjournments. Consequently, the monsoon session ended abruptly.
However, on the last day of the session, shocking visuals of violence were reported after which Vice-President and Rajya Sabha chairman Muppavarapu Venkaiah Naidu, and Lok Sabha Om Birla, decided to take action against those who were responsible for the indiscipline during the session.