Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly was adjourned sine die on Thursday, the fourth day of its Winter Session, after a major uproar over Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent comment in the Rajya Sabha regarding BR Ambedkar.
The session was at first scheduled to run the entire day, but it only lasted one hour and nine minutes because of intense protests by Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs. When the House reconvened, SP MLAs quickly entered the Well of the House and raised slogans and displayed placards to voice their opposition to Shah’s remark. Although Speaker Satish Mahana made several attempts to restore order, he could not pacify the protesting members.
Opposition silent as budget passes
In the midst of the commotion, the supplementary budget was passed without any debate. Despite repeated requests from the Speaker for opposition members to speak, no one from the opposition took the floor. After several unsuccessful attempts to regain order, Speaker Mahana adjourned the assembly sine die, abruptly concluding the Winter Session that had started on Monday.
BJP, Cong clash over Ambedkar insult allegations
Meanwhile, Thursday saw huge protests in the Parliament as both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress clashed over allegations of disrespect towards Dalit icon BR Ambedkar. Congress accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of insulting Ambedkar during his speech earlier this week and called for his resignation and also an apology.
In response, the BJP charged Congress with favouritism towards the architect of the Constitution. The situation escalated when MPs from the NDA and INDIA blocs came into direct confrontation. As a result, BJP MP Pratap Sarangi was injured in the head during the protests.
