Oppn boycotts House over turban tossing, trains guns at speaker
CHANDIGARH: Manhandling of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs on Thursday continued to rock the Punjab assembly on the last day of the budget session on Friday, too, with members of the opposition allies Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with the AAP, boycotting the House in protest against the speaker.
As soon as the House proceedings began and speaker Rana KP Singh announced Question Hour, all opposition MLAs stood up and raised the issue of tossing of turbans and the alleged thrashing of AAP MLAs by the ward-and-watch staff during their physical removal from the House.
SAD members led by chief Sukhbir Singh Badal entered the house in black robes, and nonSikh members too wore turbans. BJP members too covered their heads in black cloth.
“Turbans of baptised Sikh members have been tossed, and this is not less than sacrilege of ‘dastaar’ (turban),” said leader of opposition HS Phoolka. “It’s an issue of religious values. Nothing is more important than to have a debate; and a ‘sorry’.”
The speaker asked the opposition to stop sloganeering and said that he would deliver his decision on the demand of debate after Question Hour. But opposition legislators were unrelenting and SAD-BJP members, followed by those of the AAP, gathered near the speaker’s podium, raising slogans even as Question Hour continued. They later walked out.
AAP members sat outside the complex and held a mock session in which Kanwar Sandhu acted as speaker. They passed a “resolution” condemning the tossing of turbans.
Sukhbir told reporters, “The government didn’t try to sort out the issue; it rather insulted the MLAs saying that they removed their turbans on their own... The speaker is acting like a goon.” He said the speaker, as the custodian of the House, “is responsible for the insult of AAP members and should have apologised”. As leader of the House, CM Capt Amarinder SIngh should have said sorry too, he added. The CM was not in the House on Friday. Later, SAD-BJP leaders met governor VP Singh Badnore to seek the speaker’s dismissal. ‘REMEMBER THE PAST?’ Congress MLAs led by Sukhjinder Randhawa defended the speaker. Kuljit Singh Nagra, Inderbir Bolaria, Harminder Singh Gill and Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon by his side, he said in a press conference: “When the Congress was in opposition, even FIRs were registered against the MLAs for protesting inside the assembly.”
He started off with regret over the tossing of turbans, and said that it should not have happened. But, when the media asked him to elucidate, he said, “I meant that the AAP should not have forcibly entered the House when the speaker had already ordered their suspension for the day.” AAP SEEKS POLICE ACTION ON STAFF Two AAP MLAs who were hospitalised after getting injured during eviction of party MLAs from the Vidhan Sabha on Thursday have filed a police complaint against the assembly staff.
Police said it’s beyond their jurisdiction. “We will collect and send the evidence to the speaker,” said Poonam Dilawari, station house officer, Sector 3.
Meanwhile, a woman staffer of the assembly submitted a written complaint of molestation against AAP MLA Jai Kishan Rody to the speaker. “I am forwarding it to the police,” he said. AAP leaders said Rody has denied even touching the woman during the melee.