The State Assembly on Monday witnessed uproarious scenes as both Opposition Congress and BJP members rushed into the Well of the House and shouted slogans against presentation of Bills drafted in English. Demanding that they be drafted in Odia, they staged a walkout to register their dissent. The ruckus started after leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra opposed the Odisha Police Bill-2015 drafted in English. The Bill was presented by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukh when the House reassembled at 5 pm.
Mishra said as the Assembly had earlier passed Odia language as official language of the State. “The State Government should have presented the Bill in Odia. Instead, it moved an English drafted Bill and went to pass it without allowing the Opposition to debate on it. By using its brute majority, the ruling party is bulldozing the Opposition voice. This not a healthy practice,” Mishra resented. He blamed Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s ignorance of Odia as the reason of the State Government bringing the Bill in English. The BJP members too opposed the Bill and demanded that Bills should be written in Odia and presented.