Assam: BJP-AGP stages walk out in assembly over law and order

Noisy scenes prevailed in Assam assembly on Tuesday with opposition MLAs belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Asom Gana Parishad staging walk-out after the speaker rejected their demand for an adjournment motion to facilitate discussion on the deteriorating’ law and order situation in Assam.

Moving the adjournment motion several MLAs of the regional AGP accused the Congress government of failing to protect the lives and property of the people and commented that the central government had recently extended the imposition of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958.

Drawing the attention of the house to the December 11 killing of two school students by security forces in a ‘fake encounter’ in the name of counter-insurgency operation, the AGP MLAs criticised the Congress government for killing school children and demanded that the house should be allowed to discuss such a grave development through an adjournment motion.

AGP MLA Padma Hazarika stated that the National Democratic Front of Bodoland militants had gone on a rampage in Sonitpur district and other parts of north Assam and demanded immediate action to check the menace before it went out of control. BJP MLA Manoranjan Das alleged that the situation in Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District Council was much worse with the gun-toting militants forcing even school teachers to pay money in the name of ‘tax’. He demanded that the adjournment motion should be allowed to discuss the issue.

However, Speaker Pranab Gogoi after listening to a statements decided not to allow the adjournment motion. Peeved, the BJP and AGP MLAs walked out of the house in protest.

Image: An army vehicle patrols through a street near Kokorajhar town in Assam.