The time has come to begin writing "obituaries for the Parliamentary democracy" in our nation, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Thursday, taking aim at the Center over the massive suspension of opposition MPs from Parliament.

As part of their protest against the suspension of opposition lawmakers, the Congress leader marched from the Parliament building to Vijay Chowk. The lawmakers were demanding a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding the security breach incident that occurred on December 13.

Tharoor, the expelled member of the Lok Sabha said that the message is very simple, in a Parliamentary democracy we are looking at a situation in which the government, whose responsibility is to run the Parliament, is not taking its responsibility seriously.

He added that the Centre indicated no willingness to honour the convention of Parliamentary democracy.

In a serious security breach, the Shah disrespected Parliamentary democracy by not only declining to appear in the House as required of him as a minister but also by going outside and making statements to the press in which he said everything that he could have said in the House.

That is the norm in parliamentary democracy conventions. However, it wasn't finished. Therefore, in our opinion, the government's actions were unacceptable and demonstrated a lack of commitment to upholding the principles of parliamentary democracy. Second, lawmakers were suspended in place of demanding that the Home Minister appear and that the matter be discussed.

The suspended member referred to the passing of three criminal law bills in the absence of 97 MPs in the Lok Sabha as a "disgrace," specifically the Bharatiya Nyaya (Second) Sanhita Bill, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha (Second) Sanhita Bill, and the Bharatiya Sakshya (Second) Bill.

He added, as recently as last year, a Supreme Court Justice noted that judges would find it challenging to interpret laws by comprehending the legislative intent in the absence of opposition criticism and ministerial responses during legislative debates. It is "truly a moment to start writing obituaries for the parliamentary democracy in our country," he said, adding that "so when even that is not possible for the judges, you can understand what a disservice to the country this government has done by bulldozing these laws through without even any pretense of consultation or discussion with the opposition." (With inputs from ANI)