GUWAHATI, August 4: The Assam Assembly witnessed noisy scenes on Wednesday with both Opposition and ruling MLAs engaging in heated exchanges over the July 26 border clash with Mizoram, prompting the Speaker to adjourn the House for some time.
Opposition legislators rushed to the well of the House demanding a CBI or an NIA inquiry into the firing that resulted in deaths of six Assam Police personnel and a civilian and injuries to over 50 people.
Holding placards, the Opposition MLAs from Congress, AIUDF, BPF, CPI (M) and Independents, raised slogans demanding adequate security to the residents near the conflict site in Cachar district.
Ruling MLAs also rushed to the well of the House to counter the Opposition’s allegations, with members of both sides engaging in a heated exchange, banging desks and pointing fingers at each other.
The exchanges prompted Speaker Biswajit Daimary to eventually adjourn the House for 40 minutes after unsuccessful attempts to calm matters down.
The issue was earlier raised by MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha as a Point of Order whereby he informed the Assembly of the inter-state problems dating back to October last year
“We had informed the central government about the issue. So why did Assam Police personnel die at the border?” Purkayastha asked.
Replying to the question, parliamentary affairs minister Pijush Hazarika said that the problems between the two neighbouring states have to be solved through dialogue and that the de-escalation process had already started.
Hazarika also informed that 34 people had died in inter-state clashes during Congress tenure since 1974.