GUWAHATI:
The budget session of the Assam Legislative Assembly on March 29 witnessed an unruly situation with opposition Congress members creating a chaotic situation following the statement of Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma that he had prior information on the move of the Congress to disrupt the House proceedings.
The situation prompted speaker Biswajit Daimary to suspend three members- Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha (Congress), Jakir Hussain Sikdar (Congress) and Akhil Gogoi (Independent) for the day.
The chief minister was answering an adjournment motion moved by the leader of the opposition Debabrata Saikia over the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha after he was convicted by the CJM court of Surat (Gujarat) on a defamation case.
“In our house, it is unprecedented that we are expressing an opinion on a judicial verdict,” the chief minister said in the House.
“I know that the Congress will disrupt the House today,” which created a furore in the House as the Congress members rushed to the Well of the House and protested against the chief minister’s statement.
The Speaker had to adjourn the House twice due to the prevailing chaotic situation. The chief minister, however, withdrew this statement on the floor of the House.
“Rahul Gandhi was immature. He had publicly burnt down the copy of the ordinance, which was about to sign by the then President Pranab Mukherjee against the judgement of the Supreme Court in 2013,” Sarma said in his reply to the motion when the House resumed for the second time.
“The Supreme Court, in its judgement on July 10 2013 while disposing the Lily Thomas versus Union of India case (along with Lok Prahari, ruled that any MP, MLA or MLC who is convicted of a crime and given a minimum of two years imprisonment, loses membership of the House with immediate effect. This is in contrast to the earlier position, wherein convicted members held on to their seats until they exhausted all judicial remedy in court,” Sarma informed the House.
Further, Section 8(4) of the Representation of the People Act, which allowed elected representatives three months to appeal their conviction, was declared unconstitutional by the bench of Justice AK Patnaik and Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya.
“In the same year, the Congress-led UPA government had attempted to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling. On September 28, 2013, it was Rahul Gandhi who opposed the ordinance in a press conference and tore the ordinance as a token of protest. Gandhi tore the ordinance publicly terming it complete nonsense,” Sarma also said.
“This had also embarrassed the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was in the US for a meeting with President Barrack Omaba. After coming back from the US, Singh had withdrawn the ordinance,” Sarma further said.
“Rahul’s public censure of his own government led to his conviction and disqualification from the Lok Sabha today. Had he allowed the ordinance at that time he would be saved today,” the chief minister said.
“This ordinance was also cleared by the Union Cabinet and the core group of Congress party and the then president Pranab Mukherjee was about to sign it,” the chief minister claimed.
Narrating the case on the floor of the House, the chief minister said the case pertains to a comment passed by Rahul Gandhi in a pre-election rally at Karnataka’s Kolar in 2019 where he said described a certain community as thieves.
“A community leader complained to Gandhi saying that Rahul’s remark had defamed the entire community. Now surat CJM court found him guilty in the case,” the chief minister further said.
“Rahul Gandhi is an immature politician. Rahul Gandhi has not apologised, neither withdrawn the comments against the community,” Sarma said.
“He should have rendered an apology immediately after that speech even as the court had given time to him before the judgement,” Sarma said.
Rejecting the admissibility of the adjournment motion, Sarma said the Assam legislative Assembly has nothing to do with Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha.
“It was a judicial decision. In the history of our House, we never discussed any issue on judicial decisions. If they appeal in the higher court tomorrow and the court set aside or upholds the order, then the adjournment motion will have no meaning,” he added.
Earlier speaking on the admissibility of the adjournment motion Congress leader Debabrata Saikia said it was a political conspiracy to see that Gandhi would not be able to raise his voice in Parliament.
“Never before, any person convicted for two years in a defamation case. The judgement was passed hurriedly. The Lok Sabha Secretariat issued disqualification notice without the consent of the President, while they are not following the same law in the case of Gujarat and UP legislators,” Saikia added.
ACLP deputy leader Rakibul Hussain said they would fight the case legally and politically.
“This case has two parts- one is legal and the other part is political. We will fight legally and politically against this disqualification order,” Hussain added.
Amidst, the walkout staged by Congress, the speaker refused to admit the adjournment motion saying that the House should stay away from taking up a judicial matter for discussion.