GUWAHATI: Congress and CPI-M members disrupted Governor Gulab Chand Kataria’s speech on the first day of the budget session of the Assam Legislative Assembly, which started today.
However, AIUDF and Raijor Dal (RD) members were not with the protesting MLAs, even as RD MLA Akhil Gogoi was seen protesting against the introduction of the Citizenship Amendment Act outside the House.
They expressed their displeasure over cases filed against Congress leaders during the party’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (BJNY) in the state in January.
Congress and CPI-M legislatures shouted slogans during Kataria’s speech before walking out of the House forcing Kataria to end his speech in around three minutes.
Debabrata Saikia, leader of the opposition, complained about the faulty audio system and not receiving copies of the address.
The opposition bench showed placards in support of their various demands.
Speaker Biswajit Daimary requested the members not to shout or show placards during the speech. The placards carried slogans against the imposition of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, price rises, evictions, etc.
After the walk-out, the Opposition members continued the protests outside the House and boycotted the tea break with the treasury bench.
“We were not provided with copies of the Governor’s address. There is nothing new in the speech and he was just reading from a prepared text. It is just a waste of time of the assembly and as Opposition members, we saw no point in listening to it and walked out,” said Saikia.
He said that there were attacks on their leaders including Bhupen Kumar Borah during the Bharat Jodo Nyay yatra. He alleged that the police said no such thing happened. Such an attitude has sullied the police’s image, Saikia alleged.
Saikia said, “The government promised 5 lakh jobs for unemployed youths in five years. But in the last seven years, they could not provide jobs to 1 lakh youths. The unemployment situation of the state was not mentioned in the Governor’s speech.”
“The BJP also promised to waive all microfinance loans borrowed by women. But they did not keep their word. Many women are still suffering from it. These things are not touched in the Governor’s speech. There is nothing to hear in Governor’s speech, just a waste of time and energy,” he added.
Congress deputy leader Rakibul Hussain said, “We thought that the Governor would give a real picture of the state in his speech. But there is no mention of the deteriorating law and order situation in his speech.”
Hussain said that the government is trying to charge Rahul Gandhi and Bhupen Borah with false charge. Till today the police could not arrest the person involved in the attack on Bhupen Borah, said Hussain. They also failed to arrest the persons involved in the attack on Jairam Ramesh and the woman journalist, he alleged.
Two important bills- Assam Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Bill 2024 and Assam Tourism (Development and Registration) Bill 2024 were introduced in the House on the first day of the session.
The budget session will continue until February 28. The state budget will be presented on February 12.
