Sibasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi on Wednesday reacted strongly over his suspension amid an adjournment motion moved by the Congress to discuss the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as MP from the Lok Sabha after a court verdict.
The legislator claimed that he was baffled to learn why only he and two other MLAs from the opposition were expelled by the speaker, whereas, not a single MLA from the ruling party has been expelled.
“I am not going to comment on the speaker’s decision to expel us, but the question which I am concerned about is why only three of us were expelled?” questioned Gogoi during a media interaction inside the assembly.
He also alleged that the state police tortured him inside the assembly and dragged him outside the house by pulling his belt.
“There is not a single record of the videos regarding our suspension, as they are being expunged. The torture was so heinous that my hands would have almost been ripped off by the police. The police personnel had put their hands inside my belt and dragged me outside the house. This happened with me earlier during the protests, but, the way we three MLAs were dragged out inside the Assembly is something unprecedented,” Gogoi added.
Apart from Sibasagar MLA Akhil Gogoi, Congress MLAs Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha and Jakir Hussain Sikdar have been suspended by speaker Biswajit Daimary from House for the entire day.
Notably, the Assam Assembly on Wednesday witnessed a big clash after the Congress introduced an adjournment motion to discuss the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha after a court verdict.
Speaker Biswajit Daimary had no other choice but to adjourn the House twice. He suspended two Congress MLAs and an Independent legislator for the day.
Immediately after the Question Hour was over, Daimary allowed Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia to raise the notice and asked him to speak on the admissibility of the motion.
Saikia said, “We want to send a resolution to the President of India requesting her to uphold the Constitution. The Constitution is same for all and the executive must act fairly to protect it.”
He mentioned various clauses of the constitution in relation to the disqualification of a parliamentarian. He said that the Constitution was violated by the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi.
In a reply, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “It’s unprecedented that we’re expressing opinions on a judicial matter here. I know that a decision was taken at Congress Legislature Party last night to create noise here.”
All these led to a noisy scene with Congress MLAs, followed by all other opposition members from AIUDF, CPI (M), and Independent, moving to the well of the House.
They raised slogans in favour of Rahul Gandhi and displayed placards. At the same time, the BJP members rushed to the well and raised slogans denouncing Gandhi.
Thereafter, the speaker moved to the next item of the House and allowed tabling of the various standing committee reports. Hereafter, Daimary adjourned the House for 15 minutes.
