Guwahati, July 16 (IANS) The first day of the Assam assembly’s monsoon session began on a stormy note Monday with all opposition parties staging a walkout against the speaker’s decision not to allow an adjournment motion on the law and order situation in the wake of a recent molestation case here.
Leader of Opposition Sirajuddin Ajmal, of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), demanded the adjournment motion on the ground of deteriorating law and order across Assam “where lives of women are not secure”.
AIUDF members disrupted proceedings after Speaker Pranab Gogoi rejected the adjournment motion on the ground that the matter is sub judice.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Nilamoni Sen Deka told the house that the adjournment motion could not be allowed as a case had been already registered and the government had also ordered an inquiry into the incident.
The speaker admitted that the matter was of great public importance and he would allow a discussion in the later part of the session under different rules and procedures but the adjournment motion was not maintainable.
The AIUDF members, however, continued to disrupt the house following which the speaker adjourned the house for 15 minutes and announced the “temporary suspension” of the AIUDF members.
The AIUDF members, however, refused to leave the house and the speaker then called in the marshals to evict them.
The stalemate continued and the AIUDF members later staged a walk out from the house. Other opposition parties – the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – also staged separate walkouts from the House later on the same issue.
“It is not the women who are insecure in the state but even we are not secure inside the legislative assembly,” said BJP legislator Prashanta Phukan while criticising the speaker for the AIUDF legislators’ eviction.
However, the government dismissed the criticism.
“We have nothing to hide. Action had already been taken against the policeman who failed to reach the spot. An inquiry had also been ordered. We can discuss it under separate rules and procedures of the assembly,” said Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
