Bhubaneswar: The opposition Congress MLAs today staged a unique protest in the State Legislative Assembly to press their demand for formation of a House Committee on women safety and lifting of restriction on entry of video journalists for coverage during the Question Hour. The BJD too joined the protest for the journalists.
Wearing black dresses and headbands, playing trumpets and beating gongs and cymbals, the Congress members created a ruckus in the well of the House as soon the Question Hour began at 10.30 AM. Yesterday the Congress members had blown a whistle in the House in protest over the same issue.
The Opposition BJD also joined the protest, albeit for a different reason, accusing the government of not sharing videos of Opposition activities inside the House with the electronic media.
As the chaos escalated, Speaker Surama Padhy invited School and Mass Education Minister Niyananda Gond to respond to a question. As a noisy scenario prevailed in the House, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings till 11.30 AM.
As the situation remained the same at 11.30 AM, the Speaker convened an all-party meeting in her chamber after the House was adjourned twice—first from 10:32 AM to 11:30 AM and then again at 11:31 AM until 12:00 PM.
The House was subsequently adjourned three more times, from 12:01 PM until 4:00 PM, as the all-party meeting convened by the Speaker failed to yield a resolution.
As a result, debates on Question Hour, Zero Hour, and the Adjournment Motion were completely washed away.
Senior Congress MLA Taraprasad Bahinipati was seen leading the protest. He joined the House today after completion of a seven day suspension period. Later, the Congress MLAs, beating the musical instruments, also conducted a Parikrama around the Assembly main building.
The Congress MLAs reiterated their demand for a House committee to probe the rising crimes against women in the state.
“We will continue to protest inside and outside the assembly over violence against women till a House Committee is formed,” Congress legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam said.
Speaking to media persons, Shri Bahinipati alleged that the State government was making all efforts to suppress the voice of the opposition in the assembly.
“I was suspended for seven working days for demanding the formation of a House Committee,” he said.
Senior BJD member Arun Kumar Sahoo said MLAs of his party protested in the House over the decision to restrict the press from taking pictures and videos of the opposition’s demonstration in the assembly.
“This act is against the basics of democracy. The people have the right to know how their representatives raise issues in the House. However, the BJP government has restricted the press from taking pictures and videos of opposition members,” he alleged.
BJP MLA Irasish Acharya said, “It is unfortunate that the Congress party is not allowing the House to run smoothly even during the important Question Hour and Zero Hour. The people of Odisha are seeing them and their activities.”
In his reaction to BJD’s protest, BJP MLA Tankadhar Tripathy said the previous BJD government had restricted the entry of media persons to Lok Seva Bhawan. They (BJD) have no right to protest for Media persons, he said.