Parliament Winter Session 2023 Updates: Lok Sabha passes Telecommunications Bill 2023

Both Houses of Parliament adjourned till 11 am on Thursday. 

Lok Sabha passed the Telecommunications Bill, 2023. 

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the new criminal law bills are in consonance with the spirit of the Constitution and have been brought keeping in mind the well-being of the people of the country. Replying to the debate in Lok Sabha on the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita, 2023; the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill, 2023, Amit Shah said that the new legislations will replace British-era laws.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is speaking in the Lok Sabha. He said that three criminal law bills would bring comprehensive changes in the criminal justice system in the country. 

"I don't care about how much you insult Jagdeep Dhankhar. But I can't tolerate (insult of) Vice President of India, farmers community, my community. I will not tolerate that I could not protect the dignity of my post, it is my duty to protect the dignity of this House," said Jagdeep Dhankhar on mimicry row.

"West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee should give a statement on the mimicry done by Kalyan Banerjee yesterday. Why is she silent?... Action should be taken on this and Mamata Banerjee should answer on this," BJP MP Locket Chatterjee said.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned till 5 pm amid uproar by the Opposition members over the Parliament security breach issue. 

NDA MPs in Rajya Sabha stood and take part in House proceeding to express their respects to Chairman and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar after TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee mimics him The President and the PM have extended support to VP Dhankhar.

BJP MPs stood for an hour in solidarity with Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar a day after he was mocked by TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee during protest against the government.

I had no intention to hurt anyone, said Kalyan Banerjee a day after mimicking Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar.

"This is a disgrace and a blot on our democracy," said Congress MP Shashi Tharoor  on suspension of 141 opposition MPs.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh's brother Lakshman Singh said the MP (Kalyan Banerjee) should apologise and VC should forgive so that the Parliament would function properly.

"Ridiculing the Vice President by the MPs is condemnable... MPs should apologise, forgive them, so that Parliament should function, opposition should also play a positive role," he posted on X.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla met Vice President and Chairman, Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankar and conveyed his deep concerns and anguish about serious misdemeanor by MPs in Parliament complex demeaning and denigrating the constitutional office of Vice President: Lok Sabha Speaker's office.

President Droupadi Murmu has voiced her dismay over the incident where Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar was mocked within the Parliament complex. In a tweet, President Murmu stated, "I was dismayed to see how our respected Vice President was humiliated in the Parliament complex. Elected representatives must be free to express themselves, but their expression should be within the norms of dignity and courtesy."

CPP chairperson Sonia Gandhi addressed the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting at Central Hall of Sanvidhan Sadan, Parliament House. "Democracy has been strangulated by this government. Never before have so many Opposition Members of Parliament been suspended from the house, and that too, simply for raising a perfectly reasonable and legitimate demand," she said.

"Received a telephone call from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He expressed great pain over the abject theatrics of some MPs and that too in the Parliament complex yesterday. He told me that he has been at the receiving end of such insults for twenty years and counting but the fact that it could happen to a Constitutional office like the Vice President of India and that too in the Parliament was unfortunate. I told him- Prime Minister, the antics of a few won’t prevent me from performing my duty and upholding the principles enshrined in our Constitution. I am committed to those values from the bottom of my heart. None of the insults will make me change my path," Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar posted on X.,

Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a circular for the suspended MPs barring them from entering the Parliament chamber, lobby and galleries.

Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said the entire Jat community, from which Jagdeep Dhankhar hails, criticised the act that insulted the Rajya Sabha and the vice president, but a Congress member in the House hailing from the community did not condemn it.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday condemned the mimicry of the presiding officer in the Rajya Sabha by Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Kalyan Banerjee as well as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The issue was earlier raised by Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar in the House, after a video clip of Banerjee's mimicry was aired on television news channels.