Oppn’s unruly act shamed House, hurt its prestige, says UP governor

A day after opposition members, led by Samajwadi Party, threw paper balls at him during the joint sitting of both houses of state legislature, governor Ram Naik on Tuesday said their unruly conduct had shamed the House and hurt its prestige.

Naik said although the opposition had the constitutional right to air its views, disrupting the governor’s address was wrong. He also said the opposition should make full use of the opportunity during discussion on the address. Naik said he was deeply saddened by the misguided aggression of the opposition benches, which presented a poor image of the state before the world.

Naik expressed his views while interacting with mediapersons during his visit to Allahabad to attend a function organised by the Uttar Pradesh Rajarshi Tandon Open University (UPRTOU).

The session was the first after the Yogi Adityanath government came to power in March. It was also the first time proceedings were aired live on Doordarshan, which caught the scenes as legislators shouted slogans protesting what they described as the worsening law and order situation in the state. They threw paper balls at Naik, some of which hit him, despite marshals trying to shield the governor with the help of files. Naik said that even the opposition knew that the address delivered by the governor was prepared by the government as those in the opposition now were themselves in power some time ago.

Meanwhile, both houses of the state legislature on Tuesday unanimously passed the Uttar Pradesh Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill, 2017, with Adityanath assuring members that the law would bring uniformity in taxes.