Assam storm hits Parliament on Monsoon session opening day

The issue of Assam violence created turmoil in the Lok Sabha on the first day of the monsoon session on Wednesday with several opposition members storming the Well.

Despite Speaker Meira Kumar admitting an adjournment motion by the Bharatiya Janata Party on the issue, members including those of BJP, Shiv Sena, Bodoland People's Front and All India United Democratic Front trooped into the Well condemning the violence.

The opposition members were demanding an immediate discussion on the issue suspending the Question Hour.

S Bwiswamuthiary was seen protesting against dubbing the violence in Assam as ethnic violence. He contended that the violence was a result of illegal immigration from Bangladesh.

Maulana Badruddin Ajmal was the lone member trying to make a point by standing in front of the treasury benches.

Congress members from Telangana region were seen waving placards and raising slogans demanding a separate state.

As the Speaker's repeated appeals for bringing the House to order went in vain, she adjourned the proceedings till noon.

Later, Ajmal was seen raising some issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The Rajya Sabha, meanwhile, was adjourned twice on issues of Assam violence and alleged desecration of B R Ambedkar's statues in Uttar Pradesh with Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati condemning "humiliation" to the architect of Indian Constitution and other Dalit icons in the Samajwadi Party-ruled state.

Soon after the House met for the day heralding the start of the Monsoon session, BSP vociferously raised the issue of insult to Dalit icons and stormed the well forcing an adjournment till noon even as the opposition raised the issue of Assam violence.

When the House reassembled, members from AGP and BJP demanded an immediate discussion on the Assam violence, but P J Kurien, who was in the Chair, promised that the issue will be taken up after the Zero Hour mentions.

Mayawati drew the attention of the House towards the alleged desecration of statues of B R Ambedkar in Uttar Pradesh and renaming or closing of welfare schemes in the name on Dalit icons.

"From time to time, great saints and gurus have been born among Dalits and other backward sections of society...they are being humiliated in the country's largest state of Uttar Pradesh under the Samajwadi Party regime," she said.

"People having faith and reverence in Ambedkar are upset with the kind of humiliation meted out to him by the SP government...the statues of Ambedkar are being broken...law and order situation is bad in the state," she said.

Before she could complete, the opposition members trooped into the Well demanding an immediate discussion on the Assam issue.

Members from SP and BSP, who earlier had a heated exchange of words over Mayawati's allegations, also entered the Well forcing the Chair to adjourn the House till 2 pm