The Hindu : New Delhi News : Congress MLA suspended for `insulting' Chair; House adjourned

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Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Congress MLA suspended for `insulting' Chair; House adjourned

By Our Special Correspondent

JAIPUR, MARCH 29. The notice for no-confidence motion moved on Monday by the Congress-led Opposition against the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker, Sumitra Singh - accusing her of showing a "dictatorial" attitude - snowballed into a major confrontation on Tuesday with the Congress MLA, Sanyam Lodha, being suspended for the rest of the Budget session and two others expelled for the day. The House was adjourned thrice before the proceedings were finally put off till Thursday.

A banner displayed by Mr. Lodha on his clothes protesting against the Speaker's alleged authoritarian stand led to a turmoil during question hour as the treasury members took strong exception to it and termed it an insult to the Chair. However, Mr. Lodha affirmed that it only referred to Ms. Sumitra Singh's refusal to allow raising of the issue of communal clashes in Sojat town of Pali district on Holi.

The deadlock over the matter continued even after three continuous adjournments, when discussions were held in the Speaker's chamber with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party insisting that Mr. Lodha tender and apology. The ruling party's Chief Whip, Mahavir Prasad Jain, then moved a motion in the House for suspension of Mr. Lodha, to which the Congress members reacted strongly by raising anti-Government slogans.

Ms. Sumitra Singh, before allowing the motion and putting it to the voice vote, announced that she had fixed the debate on the no-confidence motion against her on April 12, even though it was "not admissible under the rules". "I can be removed if the members so feel, but the dignity of the office has to be maintained at all costs," she said while accusing the Opposition of mixing up the issues of no-confidence and suspension on showing disrespect to the Chair.

The senior Congress leader, C.P. Joshi, speaking amid repeated disruptions from the treasury benches, said Mr. Lodha's conduct should be seen in the context of the Opposition's right to agitate. "Mr. Lodha did not flout any direction of the Speaker. The Speaker never asked him to remove the banner," he said.

Mr. Joshi regretted that the Leader of the House, Vasundhara Raje, had not taken any initiative to resolve the deadlock. "The democratic norms and traditions of the House require the Leader of the House to show magnanimity and negotiate with the Opposition to reach a consensus. Sadly, the adherence to democratic values has not been shown in the House," he said.

Even as the Opposition's Deputy Whip, Zubair Khan, affirmed that the motion for suspension was not valid under the Assembly's rules of business, the Deputy Leader of Opposition, Ramnarain Meena, requesting for dropping the proceedings, said the Speaker should treat both the treasury and Opposition members on an equal footing and added that an indictment would be sufficient in the matter.

However, Mr. Jain and other members of the ruling party, including the Ministers, pointed out that the disrespect shown to the Speaker by raising derogatory slogans against her and displaying a banner was "unprecedented" in the history of the Rajasthan Assembly. "It calls for acceptance of the motion and expulsion of the guilty member," Nathu Singh Gujjar (BJP) said.

Mr. Lodha, who was given an opportunity to make his statement before the motion was put to voting, reiterated his charge against the Forest and Environment Minister, Laxminarain Dave - elected to the Assembly from Sojat - of having abetted the violence by giving directions from the town's police station where he was present for three hours. He said he had full respect for the Chair and he only wanted to raise the Sojat issue.

The motion was passed by voice vote, with the majority of the members present in the House approving it.

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