Mumbai: Not long after the question hour, usually the first item on the day’s agenda, ended Wednesday, the Maharashtra legislative assembly spiralled into a state of mayhem, with Opposition legislators vociferously demanding Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) minister Nawab Malik’s resignation from the cabinet.
They walked out of the house and descended the red-carpeted stairs, with many shouting “Nawab Malik kaun hai? Dawood ka dalaal hai (Who is Nawab Malik? He is Dawood’s middleman).”
Malik was arrested last month by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged money laundering and links with the underworld.
Wednesday’s histrionics, while not unusual for any parliamentary or legislative session, have become almost commonplace for the Maharashtra assembly. From parallel assembly sessions by BJP members last year to catcalling of minister Aaditya Thackeray, mimicking PM Narendra Modi on “black money” and a yogasana by an MVA member during a protest on 3 March against Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari — the Maharashtra assembly has probably seen more drama in the last one year than policy discussions or debates concerning the state.
The reason for the increased melee in the Maharashtra assembly, according to political analyst Hemant Desai, is that ever since the Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case, politics in the state has been dominated by allegations and counter-allegations on the BJP’s use of central agencies against rivals. “This budget session is turning out to be even more extreme than the previous one, and all important current issues concerning people are being ignored,” Desai told ThePrint.
“There were unseasonal rains in Maharashtra (in December and January) causing crop losses. Farmers are facing issues of electricity connections. But, none of these discussions are taking prominence inside the legislature,” he added.
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Walkouts, sloganeering and headstands
This year’s budget session started on a controversial note on 3 March, as Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari wrapped up his traditional address to both the houses of the assembly in less than a minute and walked out of the house without waiting for the national anthem.
What followed were shrill protests on the assembly stairs. While BJP MLAs raucously sloganeered, ”Dawood ke dalalo ko, joote maaro saalo ko (Hit Dawood’s agents with shoes)”, MLAs of the ruling MVA protested against Koshyari for his comments on Chhatrapati Shivaji last month, and for “insulting” the national anthem.
Koshyari had riled up MVA leaders by saying saint-poet Samarth Ramdas was Chhatrapati Shivaji’s teacher. MVA leaders have called it a distortion of history, and many academics have said there is no proof to support the claim.
Amid the protests against Koshyari’s claims, Sanjay Daund, an NCP MLC, performed a “sheershasan” (headstand), saying the Governor’s head is where his feet should be.
The days that followed did not see much legislative business either, other than the house unanimously passing a bill to delay all polls in the state till the political quota for Other Backward Classes, scrapped by the Supreme Court last year, is restored.
Tuesday was the first full working day of the session. On Wednesday, BJP MLAs staged a walkout, a protest march and a rally at Azad Maidan, pressing for Malik’s resignation from the cabinet. This session is scheduled to end on 25 March.
Speaking to ThePrint, Vinod Agarwal, an independent MLA from Gondia, said he has barely got a chance to discuss the issues from his backward constituency. “My constituency is backward. It is a tribal and Naxal (hit) district. People have a lot of expectations from their elected representatives. Speaking in the house is a major opportunity for me, to put forth my constituency’s problems such as basic ration and electricity. But in the past one year, I have barely got an opportunity (to do this),” he told ThePrint.
“Discussions on important bills or problems from individual constituencies have been negligible. The time of the house is simply spent on political issues, and ultimately the house is adjourned. MLAs like me come from so far, and for what?” Agarwal asked.
From ‘Waze session’ to ‘meow meow’
Over the past year, the assembly sessions in Maharashtra have been of short duration as a precautionary measure during the Covid pandemic. But even these sessions have been spent on protests, political attacks and counterattacks, said experts and some assembly members.
The budget session in March last year spanned just ten days and went almost exclusively in discussing now-dismissed policeman Sachin Waze.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis had presented call data records that he claimed poked holes in the Mumbai Police’s investigation into the recovery of gelatin sticks outside industrialist Mukesh Ambani’s house, and questioned Waze’s involvement in the conspiracy.
The rest of the session was largely spent in the BJP demanding Waze’s suspension from the police force and alleging that the MVA government was shielding him. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Waze in relation to the Antilia case in March last year.
The monsoon session in July 2021 was just two days long, while the winter session was conducted over five days.
The monsoon session was a washout, with the first day being spent on a fracas between Shiv Sena’s Bhaskar Jadhav and BJP MLAs, which resulted in the suspension of 12 opposition MLAs, for allegedly “misbehaving” with Bhaskar, who was then the pro tem speaker.
The following day, the BJP boycotted the session, and conducted its own session on the steps of Mumbai’s Vidhan Bhavan, complete with a microphone, a ‘Speaker’, a ‘presiding officer’, a live webcast and mock discussions on current issues.
During the winter session of the assembly in December last year, Shiv Sena MLA Bhaskar Jadhav mimicked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking about bringing black money back to India. This riled BJP leaders and sparked an uproar, till Jadhav apologised.
Another issue that started hours of sparring inside the house was MLA Nitesh Rane’s supposed heckling of Aaditya Thackeray, state cabinet minister and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s son. A video doing the rounds of social media and WhatsApp appeared to show Rane calling out “meow, meow, meow” as junior Thackeray entered the assembly.
The winter session was also dominated by the drama surrounding the election of Speaker. The post had been lying vacant since Congress’ Nana Patole resigned in February 2021. The MVA pushed through an amendment in rules to elect a Speaker by a voice vote instead of the traditional secret ballot, a move that was strongly opposed by the BJP.
The election, however, could not be held as the state government was kept waiting for the Governor’s approval.
Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Mirlekar, former MLC, told ThePrint: “There is a clear politics of vengeance where only political rivals are being targeting by central agencies. The BJP is stalling house proceedings because its leaders know that if there are discussions, a lot of that they want to hide will come out in the open. It is eventually harmful for democracy.”
Meanwhile, blaming the MVA government for reducing the duration of assembly sessions, BJP MLA Ashish Shelar told ThePrint that the question should not be whether there have been any fruitful discussions or debates in the assembly sessions, but whether there have been assembly sessions at all.
“This government has been holding short sessions of just two days. This (the ongoing budget session) is the first proper session being held. The government is not interested in having any debates or discussions on current issues and policies,” Shelar said.
Typically, in pre-pandemic times for example, budget sessions in Maharashtra would extend to five-six weeks. This year, it’s being closed in less than a month.
Political analyst Desai, however, said, both sides need to come to an agreement so that the pursuit of political agenda inside the house is stopped, and important issues in the state take precedence.
“The standard of the legislature has fallen steeply. For more than a year, we have been discussing crime, ED, politics of vengeance. The political atmosphere is very polluted. Somewhere, this has to stop,” he added.
(Edited Poulomi Banerjee)
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