St Au­gus­tine MP Khadi­jah Ameen has faced crit­i­cism from House Speak­er Bridgid An­nisette-George for wear­ing a sari in Par­lia­ment dis­play­ing her midriff. 

The green and gold blouse and black gold skirt and trans­par­ent sari draped around her shoul­der al­lowed her stom­ach, sides and back to be ex­posed.

As she gave greet­ings to the House ahead of Di­vali to be cel­e­brat­ed on Thurs­day Oc­to­ber 31, Ais­sette-George ad­mon­ished Ameen with­out nam­ing her.

"It is well known that our prac­tice over the years has been to al­low, even em­brace, mem­bers wear­ing ap­pro­pri­ate cul­tur­al gar­ments based on the ob­ser­vance of var­i­ous cul­tur­al tra­di­tions. How­ev­er, that does not over­ride the stand­ing or­ders. Ho­n­ourable mem­bers are to be guid­ed by the stand­ing or­ders and be more cir­cum­spect in our dress and as beau­ti­ful as many mem­bers look in their cul­tur­al gar­ments, and I have to say to in­clude the men hand­some, I must, as Speak­er, point out that in the case of one mem­ber, that wear is not in ac­cor­dance with stand­ing or­der 53(1)."

Stand­ing Or­der 53 (1)M states that a mem­ber present in the House dur­ing the de­bate must wear busi­ness at­tire. 

Mean­while, An­nisette-George urged all mem­bers to put their dif­fer­ences aside as they re­flect­ed on Di­vali. 

"I would like to use to em­brace the spir­it of this fes­ti­val by tak­ing a deep in­tro­spec­tion and re­flec­tion on the state of our so­ci­ety and our per­son­al lives. Let us use this time to let go of all griev­ances and re­new our minds, our hearts and our in­ner light."