GUWAHATI:
Maharashtra MLA Bachchu Kadu’s remarks about the dog meat-eating habits of the people of Assam created a noisy scene on the first day of the budget session of the Assam Legislative Assembly, with opposition members staging a walkout from the House on March 10.
The opposition also disrupted the speech of Governor Gulab Chand Kataria in the House forcing him to restrict his address to 15 minutes.
All the opposition parties – Congress, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and Raijor Dal created a noisy scene despite Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s call not to disrupt the Governor’s speech on the first day of the session.
On March 4, Bacchu Kadu, MLA from Achalpur LAC of Maharashtra representing Janashakti Party reportedly proposed in the Maharashtra Assembly that stray dogs be sent to Assam to control their rising population, as they are consumed by locals in the state.
As the House assembled after the Governor’s speech, Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha brought up the issue and said the House should take a resolution against the BJP MLA for his derogatory statement.
The opposition MLAs stood up and shouted slogans and sought to know what action has been taken against the legislator.
While the ruling BJP and the AGP members were silent, Dey also questioned the Assam government’s ‘inaction’ against Kadu, pointing out that a police team from the state had recently reached New Delhi to arrest party leader Pawan Khera over alleged remarks against the Prime Minister.
AIUDF MLA Rafikul Islam urged speaker Biswajit Daimary to take suo motu cognisance for breach of privilege against Kadu’s remarks and ‘make him come to the Assam Assembly and apologise’.
Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi and CPI (M) MLA Manoranjan Talukdar also joined the opposition members in demanding action against their Maharashtra counterpart.
As the Congress MLAs moved into the Well of the House, Speaker Biswajit Daimary asked them to return to their seats, and approach the matter through proper channels.
Amid the ruckus, all the opposition MLAs staged a walkout.
Earlier, Opposition members disrupted the Governor’s speech in the assembly over Kadu’s remarks about the dog meat eating habits of people of the state.
The Governor had to restrict his speech to 15 paragraphs, as the opposition MLAs stood up and shouted slogans, seeking to know what action has been taken against the legislator.
Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha raised the matter as Kataria speaking on the improved law and order situation of the state. Akhil Gogoi also maintained that the issue should feature in the governor’s speech.
As the opposition MLAs continued to disrupt proceedings, Kataria concluded his speech barely halfway into it.
Later speaking to the media, opposition leader Debabrata Saikia said: “Bacchu Kadu’s statement goes against the Assamese community/. We demanded the Assam government to take up the issue with the Maharashtra counterpart forcing him to apologise before the people of Assam.”
“But the Assam government is silent on the issue. The Assam Police had reached New Delhi to arrest our leader Pawan Khera over alleged remarks against the prime minister, but no action has been taken against Kadu,” Saikia said.
“Assam Police is for Assamese people. They should act when the people of the community are hurt,” he added.
In his speech, Governor Kataria said: “With committed efforts of the Central government and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bringing lasting peace in Assam and the Northeast, today all major insurgent groups either laid down arms or joined the dialogue process.”
“Major peace accords were signed with the insurgent groups, which include the Karbi Peace Accord and the Adivasi Peace Accord. As a result of which a large number of insurgent cadres belonging to these groups have joined the mainstream after their outfits were disbanded,” Kataria said.
“Till a few years ago, violence and insurgency were the order of the day. Today the people of Assam are also standing up to violence and turning their energy and skills to build a better, stronger, safe, productive and stable society.
“As a result of peace and normalcy fast coming to the state, the Armed Forces (Special Power) Act 1958 which was in force for the last three decades was withdrawn from 24 districts and one sub-division of the4 state with effect from April 2022.
“The culture of bandh and dharna is a thing of the past. There is a marked improvement in the law and order situation in the state. This has contributed to the plummeting of average crime rate per lakh of the population which stood at 384 during the last year and has significantly come down to 202 by the end of December 2022.
“With the improvement of the law and order situation, the tourism sector has witnessed significant growth and attention during 2022. While this sector recorded 511 per cent growth in respect of domestic tourism, it 763 per cent in respect of foreign tourist in terms of tourist inflow in 2022-23 compared to last year’s inflow,” he added.