The protest, which was organised under the banner of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi and leaders of Left parties, DMK, NCP, SP, NC, TMC, JMM, RJD and other members of the opposition coalition
NCP leader Sharad Pawar, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, JMM's Mahua Maji, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, RJD's Manoj Kumar Jha, TMC's Mausam Noor, NC's Hasnain Masoodi, Revolutionary Socialist Party's N K Premachandran and SP's S T Hasan were among the leaders present at the protest
Addressing the gathering, Kharge said the leaders of INDIA parties have come together as democracy is under threat under the BJP government. "When all unite, Narendra Modi won't be able to do anything... The more you try to crush us, the more we will rise. We are fighting unitedly to save the country and democracy," he said
The Members of Parliament, suspended from the Parliament's Winter Session, were also present at the protest
Also, a nationwide protest has also been scheduled at all district headquarters by the Congress party today
A total of 146 MPs -- 100 from Lok Sabha and 46 from Rajya Sabha -- were suspended for creating a ruckus and disrupting proceedings in both Houses, while they were demanding a statement from Union Minister Amit Shah about the Parliament security breach incident
Earlier on Thursday, after the conclusion of the 262nd Session of the Rajya Sabha, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said that he is pained to state that nearly 22 hours of the Upper House were lost due to avoidable disruptions
"I am pained to state that nearly 22 hours were lost due to avoidable disruptions adversely impacting our overall productivity that finally stood at 79 percent. Weaponizing disruptions and disturbance as a political strategy doesn't resonate with our constitutional obligation of keeping the interest of people at large above any other political considerations," the Rajya Sabha Chairman said
Earlier on Thursday, while the proceedings of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were underway, the suspended MPs took out a march from the Parliament building to Vijay Chowk to protest against the bulk suspension of opposition lawmakers
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