For the second consecutive day, the Uttar Pradesh Assembly was witness to noisy scenes on Tuesday. On the inaugural day of the first session on Monday, an unruly Opposition members raised slogans and hurled paper missiles at Governor Ram Naik during his address to the joint sitting of state legislature.
The issue was raised during Zero Hour by BJP member Pankaj Singh seeking a motion to condemn the conduct of Opposition parties. He said the act of Samajwadi Party members of throwing paper and plastic balls could have caused injury to the Governor. He also questioned the conduct of SP MlAs of blowing the whistle during the Governor’s address.
Samajwadi Party leader and leader of the Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary denied that any MlA had hurled any paper or plastic balls at the Governor. He said that the SP members only wanted to convey their grievances to the Governor.
BSP leader lalji Verma demanded from the Speaker to dismiss the notice of BJP members since it did not come under the relevant rule of `rules of business for the conduct of proceedings of UP Assembly’.
The situation however took a different turn when Congress leader Ajay Kumar lallu said that in 2014, BJP leaders had also protested by taking off their shirts during the then Governor’s address. lallu’s comment irked the BJP leaders and they claimed that it was two RlD members who indulged in that act and demanded an apology from the Congress leader.
The issue created noisy scenes with the Opposition rallying behind the Congress leader while the BJP insisted on an apology from the Congress member.
The Treasury benches were pacified after the Congress member said he was withdrawing his words. His statement was termed as an apology by the Speaker.
Moving the notice, Pankaj Singh alleged that it was a conspiracy to hurt the Governor and Opposition members indulged in the undemocratic practice even as the incident was telecast live, with people watching their unruly conduct. “The act should be condemned and the members involved in it should be punished so that such incidents were not repeated in future. The act of the Opposition was an insult to the Governor, who is the constitutional head of the state and the legislature. The act of Opposition MlAs was also against their oath,” said Pankaj Singh.
Parliamentary Affairs minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said that the BJP too had protested when they were in Opposition but the incident on Monday was unprecedented. “The incident on Monday must have made a very negative impact on the 238 first time legislators of the House,‘’ said Khanna.
The Speaker admitted the notice but reserved his verdict. He said that such incident was shameful for democracy and hoped that something should be evolved to prevent reoccurrence of such incidents in future. On Tuesday, a SP member came to House with a bell and kept ringing it during the Zero Hour. On noticing the sound, the Speaker warned the member to take out the bell and asked him to refrain from this act in future.