GUWAHATI: The main Opposition party in Assam Assembly Congress on Tuesday disrupted the Governor’s address on the first day of the Budget Session in Assam Assembly besides skipping the customary tea party in the honour of the governor as well as the photo session.
Congress protested ‘attempt’ to ‘saffronise’ the Assembly premise besides failure of the BJP government to keep its promise of providing a clean and transparent administration.
The Congress raised the voice of protest barely five minutes into the Governor’s speech when Mukhi said the government was committed to give a clean and transparent administration.
Alleging that the BJP-led state government has failed to keep its promises, the opposition Congress MLAs raised slogans of ‘shame, shame’ against the government and also displayed placards against the government.
As the Congress MLAs stormed the Well of the House disrupting the speech, the Governor Mukhi skipped to the last page of the written speech and it was taken as read.
At the conclusion of the speech, when the Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami invited all present for a tea party organised in honour of the Governor, as per convention, Congress MLA Abdul Khaleque, immediately alleged that the tea party and the photo session had been saffronised, with colours of a particular political party’s flag being used as the background for decorations of the area assigned for the photo session.
As a mark of protest, the Congress has decided to boycott the tea party as well as the photo session, he added.
Speaker Goswami, responding to Khaleque, said he was first made aware of the Opposition’s objection to the decorations in the Assembly premise when he saw a news report on television last evening.
Immediately, he ordered removal of the decorations that were being objected to and it was done accordingly, he said, adding, “I ordered the removal as we don’t want to hurt anyone.”
Former chief minister and Congress MLA Tarun Gogoi alleged that the government was run by the RSS, and not the chief minister, and said, “The RSS is trying to capture the Assembly. Sanctity of the Assembly is affected. RSS is trying to capture all institutions, first Assembly, then Parliament, then Election Commission. It is a dangerous development as these are the pillars of democracy.”
