Two RlD legislators took off their shirts and staged protest half-naked in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday when the entire Opposition party was up on its feet holding banners to force Governor Bl Joshi to cut short his address to the joint session of the State legislature.
Amid that din all eyes turned towards the two RlD MlAs — Vir Singh Rathi and Sudesh Sharma — who were half-naked and carrying a banner which talked about the plight of mill workers of Modi Nagar.
The Governor stopped for a second and looked at them even as Parliamentary Affairs minister Md Azam Khan started his running commentary saying: “Dekho kuch nange log bhi aa gaye hai (look some naked people too have come in the House).”
This being the first legislative Session of the year, it started with the joint Session of the State Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad that was addressed by the Governor. As soon as House assembled, entire opposition led by Bahujan Samaj Party raised anti-Government slogans.
The BSP members wearing paper tiara with slogans written on it stood on their seats demanding immediate dismissal of the Government. Some members were also carrying banners that read kisan-virodhi sarkar barkhast karo (dismiss anti-farmer Government), jungle raj samapt karo (end jungle rule).
The RlD and Congress members were also carrying banners with them. One of the two RlD lawmakers Rathi said: “We wanted to raise the demand of the people so we used this democratic way to register our protest. However, the leaders were not impressed. “Their intention was correct but method was wrong,” leader of Opposition Swamy Prasad Maurya said.