The Trinamool Congress on Monday said it would appeal to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to consider revoking the suspension of eight Opposition MPs, saying that the Parliament must function smoothly and that the Opposition should be allowed to speak, PTI reported.

The party’s national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee said that the Trinamool Congress would formally write to the Speaker seeking a review of the suspensions.

“We want the House to run, and it is the responsibility of the government to run the House,” he was quoted as saying. “The Opposition should also get time to speak.”

He added: “We have placed an appeal in front of the competent authority, we hope that the House will run.”

However, Banerjee declined to respond to a question about whether the party would support a no-confidence motion against Birla, which is being considered by some Opposition parties, the news agency reported.

The party reiterated its position later on social media stating that a Parliament which functions by silencing the Opposition cannot be said to be functioning at all.

It said that while orderly conduct of the House was essential, elected Opposition MPs represented millions of citizens and must be given the opportunity to speak.

“Their voices cannot be erased by arbitrary suspensions,” the party said.

The Lok Sabha has witnessed disruptions since February 2, with the Opposition protesting against Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi not being allowed to quote an excerpt from an unpublished memoir of former Indian Army chief MM Naravane about the political decision-making during the 2020 border tensions between India and China.

On February 3, eight Congress MPs were suspended for the remainder of the Budget Session for throwing papers at the chair as they protested against Krishna Prasad Tenneti for calling on other members to speak before Gandhi had completed his speech.

Two days later, the Lok Sabha passed the Motion of Thanks on the president’s address without Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving his customary reply, as Opposition MPs continued their protest.

This was the first time since 2004 that the prime minister has not replied to the Motion of Thanks in the Lok Sabha

The same day Birla had said that he had urged the prime minister not to come to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday to avoid a “mishap”.