The opposition BJP in Bihar on Wednesday boycotted state assembly proceedings in protest against the suspension of its MLA Lakhendra Raushan for unruly conduct in the House on the previous day.
Raushan, who represents the Patepur assembly seat, was suspended for two days by Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary who seemed upset over the member having ripped out the microphone during a heated exchange with an MLA from the ruling side.
The MLA, however, had contended that the microphone was defective and came off on its own when he tried to adjust it and alleged that he had got excited when Satyadeo Ram of CPI(ML) Liberation, which supports the Nitish Kumar government from outside, used abusive language against him.
State BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal had on Tuesday indicated the stance his party was going to adopt as he alleged that the MLA “is being targeted because he is a Paswan.
Under the rule of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ led by the RJD, the caste patronised by the party has become emboldened and grown contemptuous towards Dalits”.
As BJP MLAs stood outside the assembly, raising slogans and waving placards, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, who belongs to the chief minister’s JD(U) and had advised the Speaker to take action against the “unruly” member, seemed to be in the mood for a rapprochement.
Rising in his seat, he said “the opposition is indispensable for the House. Without them the House looks desolate (soona lagta hai). What happened yesterday was a direct affront to the dignity of the Chair which took a decision that it deemed appropriate”.
“However, the government would urge the Chair to initiate a dialogue with the disgruntled members and ensure their return, after they express regret for what happened,” he said.
Notably, when an apology was demanded from Raushan on Tuesday, such a possibility was ruled out by Leader of the Opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha who asserted that “both sides have been in the wrong and hence if there was to be an apology, it should come from both sides”.
In contrast with the parliamentary affairs minister’s pacifying gesture was the belligerence of RJD MLA Akhtarul Iman Shahi, who rose to assert that there should be no leniency against the BJP MLAs.
He also cited the examples of BJP-ruled states, like Gujarat and Uttarakhand, where there have been instances of opposition MLAs being suspended en masse “in the name of maintaining order in the House”.
The Speaker told the House that he “took a decision, upon the government’s advice, in the light of unfortunate incidents that should have never taken place inside the House”.
“I would request the opposition to give up their intransigence and join the proceedings,” the Speaker said.
However, the boycott continued and Sinha announced that “we will be staging a march to the Raj Bhavan to register a protest against this corrupt government which is trying to run the legislature as per its own diktats”.
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