Nagpur, Dec 20 (IANS) Amid a war of words and slogans, the state Assembly on Friday was adjourned for 10 minutes over the display of posters of B. R. Ambedkar by Congress legislators Vijay Wadettiwar and Nana Patole on their desks. BJP ministers Girish Mahajan and Chandrakant Patil, along with legislators Yogesh Sagar, Prashant Thakur, Randhir Sawarkar and others took strong objection, urging Speaker Rahul Narwekar to direct them to remove the posters. They added that if Congress members continue to keep posters on their desks, they should also be allowed to put up similar posters.
BJP legislators raised slogans like “Emergency lavnarya Congress cha dhikkar aso, Babasahebancha apaman karnarya Congress cha dhikkar aso, Dhongi Congress cha dhikkar aso (Condemn Congress for insulting B. R. Ambedkar, also condemn Congress for imposing the Emergency). This prompted the Opposition to hit back and raise slogans like Jai Bhim Jai Bhim, Ambedkar Ambedkar. Amid slogan shouting, the Speaker repeatedly asked the members to maintain decorum and follow house protocol. Notwithstanding the Speaker’s call, members from both sides went on raising slogans leading to acrimonious schemes in the house.
In the mean time, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar stood up and said that Ambedkar is ideal for them and everybody and therefore, the ruling party members should be allowed to display the posters as done by the Congress legislators.
The Speaker said that as per the rules, such posters are not allowed to be displayed in the House. Patole, who stood up to raise the point of procedure, assured that they will remove the posters after he completed his statement. However, the Speaker disallowed Patole saying that the issue he was raising did not come under the point of procedural norms. The Shiv Sena minister Gukabrao Patil said that if Patole will continue to speak then he and other members of the treasury bench should also be given an opportunity to air their views.
As the slogan shouting continued the Speaker at 11.14 a.m. adjourned the House for 10 minutes.
After the House was adjourned, the ruling and Opposition members continued raising slogans. The ruling party members brought a lot of posters of Ambedkar and displayed them on their desks. Some posters had photos of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi condemning the Congress for not awarding the Bharat Ratna to Ambedkar and also for his poll defeats twice.
After the house reassembled at 11.25 a.m., the Speaker said that he would proceed to take up the day’s business if the members did not want to adhere to his appeal to remove the posters. The ruling and Opposition did not remove the posters. Then the Speaker announced the next subject on the agenda asking them to raise the point of propriety.
Earlier, the Speaker announced that he had rejected all adjournment motions moved by several members in his chamber. After that, Wadettiwar tried to draw the Speaker’s attention regarding the attack on the Mumbai Congress office allegedly by BJP workers on Thursday. The moment Wadettiwar started his argument, ruling party members raised slogans.
Meanwhile, BJP minister Chandrakant Patil, accompanied by party legislators on the steps of the state Assembly, raised slogans targeting the Congress party. That was followed by Congress, Shiv Sena and NCP legislators raising slogans to protest against the hooliganism and mob attack allegedly by the MahaYuti workers.
–IANS
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