Not allowed to speak on Dalits, Maya quits RS

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati resigned from Parliament on Tuesday, hours after storming out of the Rajya Sabha accusing the BJP and the House Chair of not allowing her to complete her speech on atrocities on Dalits in Uttar Pradesh.

The resignation of Mayawati, a Dalit leader and a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, may not be accepted since it does not follow a set format, but her move could help her score a political point by projecting herself as a champion of the Dalit cause.

In her three-page resignation letter to House Chairman Hamid Ansari, she detailed the morning’s incident as the reason for her decision, narrating how the deputy chairperson rejected her plea to complete the speech.

A parliamentarian cannot cite a motive while quitting, parliamentary procedure dictates.

“I met the chairman to hand over my resignation letter. It is not fair that I am not allowed to speak in the House on issues close to me.” Mayawati said after resigning.

Earlier in the morning, Mayawati started speaking on atrocities against Dalits in Rajya Sabha after being given 3 minutes to raise the issue.

As spoke longer than the allotted time, Rajya Sabha deputy chairman PJ Kurien stopped her and an angry Mayawati stormed out of the House threatening to resign. BJP minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi rejected her allegations and demanded she should apologise as she had challenged the Chair’s decision.

“If people in power, the Bharatiya Janata Party or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) do not allow me to speak in the interest of marginalised communities, then I can no longer continue in this Parliament”, she said in the letter written in Hindi.

Members of the Opposition, such as Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, backed Mayawati.

If she re-writes her resignation letter, the BSP as well as the Opposition will lose an MP while the BJP in UP will bag the seat. Rajya Sabha members are elected by MLAs of the state and in UP, the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP has a brute majority.

Jab satta paksh mujhe apni baat rakhne ka samay nahi de raha hai toh mera isteefa dena hi theek hai (If ruling party won’t allow me to speak, it’s better to resign) MAYAWATI, BSP chief