Gairsain, Aug 19 (PTI) The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday introduced eight bills in the state assembly that included an anti-conversion bill, minority education bill and a vote-on-account of Rs 5,315 crore amid repeated adjournments, while the opposition Congress created a ruckus over the issue of alleged rigging in panchayat elections and deteriorating law and order.
As soon as the proceedings of the House began at 11 am on the first day of the Monsoon session, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, Yashpal Arya, and Congress leader Pritam Singh demanded an immediate discussion under Rule 310 on the issue of alleged rigging and deteriorating law and order in the recently concluded panchayat elections by postponing the Question Hour.
Other opposition members also supported the demand and walked to Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan’s chair and raised slogans. The speaker requested the opposition MLAs to return to their seats.
When they kept raising slogans, the speaker adjourned the proceedings of the House for thirty minutes.
When the proceedings resumed, opposition leaders created a ruckus again and overturned the table of the assembly secretary, after which the speaker again adjourned the proceedings.
The ruckus continued after the proceedings of the House resumed. Opposition members again overturned the assembly secretary’s table. They also tore up papers and threw them in the air in front of the speaker’s chair.
The speaker adjourned the House again, which meant that the time allotted for the Question Hour was entirely disrupted by the ruckus. In total, the House was adjourned four times.
Even after the adjournment of the House, the opposition members, led by Arya, sat in front of the speaker’s chair and kept raising slogans.
The state government, however, managed to introduce eight bills, including the Uttarakhand Freedom of Religion (Amendment) Bill and the Uttarakhand Minority Education Bill, during the proceedings of the day. A supplementary budget of Rs 5,315 crore was also presented.
Before the session began, former Congress MLAs also staged a sit-in outside the assembly against the alleged rigging and the deteriorating law and order in the panchayat elections.
Earlier, outside the House, Leader of Opposition Arya said that the state’s image was tarnished due to the rigging of the Nainital panchayat elections.
“The way our district panchayat members are being kidnapped in broad daylight by around 50 odd people linked to the BJP while the police force remains a silent spectator, the real face of the government has come out in public,” he told reporters.
The manner in which he and Deputy Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly Bhuwan Kapri and Haldwani MLA Sumit Hridayesh were pushed around has never happened in the state before.
Terming the incident an “attack on democracy”, Arya said the Uttarakhand High Court’s remarks against the Senior Superintendent of Police in this regard are also a confirmation of the “misdeeds” of the government. PTI DPT SKY SKY
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