Chaos in Rajasthan Assembly over deteriorating law and order situation, atrocities against Dalits

Jaipur: The Rajasthan Assembly Thursday witnessed an uproar over the issues of farmers and the law and order situation in the state when Congress and an independent MLA boycotted the Question Hour while a ruling party MLA cornered the BJP government over atrocities on Dalits. Ruling party MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari also staged a walk-out after he was not allowed to speak in a debate on the governor’s speech. [caption id=“attachment_4342847” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rajasthan Legislative Assembly. Image courtesy: Rajassembly.nic.in[/caption] As soon as the House began at 11 am, Speaker Kailash Meghwal said the first question in the list was transferred to the cooperative department from the agriculture department and the answer would be given when questions for the department are listed. The question about farmers’ loan waiver was listed on the first number in a list of questions by independent legislator Nandkishore Maharia. He opposed the transfer of the question and alleged that the government was trying to evade and is not serious on farmers issues. Deputy Leader of Opposition Ramesh Meena and Congress MLA Sukhram staged a dharna in the Well of the House, demanding loan waivers to farmers and were joined by other Congress members. In the meantime, Maharia tore the question paper as a protest. The speaker asked Congress whip Govind Dotasara to maintain decorum but the Congress members ignored the speaker and continued their protest. After nearly 10 minutes of protest in the Well of the House, Congress MLAs and independent MLA Maharia boycotted the Question Hour. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore and Speaker Kailash Meghwal condemned the behaviour of the opposition members. “The government was ready to answer the question when it is the day for the cooperative department but they behaved like this, used unparliamentary language and boycotted the session. The house condemns this,” Rathore said. At the beginning of the Zero Hour, Niwai (Tonk) BJP MLA Heera Lal raised the issue of the molestation with a minor Dalit girl in Tonk and accused the local police of not taking any action in the case. He said the family of the minor victim met the Superintendent of Police of Tonk but she ignored them saying she had no time. The legislator said neither the local Station House Officer nor the SP listened or sympathised with the plea of the 17-year-old girl. The girl was allegedly molested by her school principal a few days back. Opposition Congress, who had entered the House after the boycott, again created an uproar over the issue, saying that though the BJP MLA was targeting the government, the government was not serious about Dalit issues. The law and order situation in the state has deteriorated, the Congress alleged, demanding a reply from Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria. Kataria was not present in the House at that time. With them, the BJP MLA also continued targeting the government and demanded that action against the local SHO and other police officials in the case. State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore signalled Lal to sit down, but the MLA ignored it. SP (Tonk) Preeti Jain, said the girl has alleged in the FIR that she was molested by the government school principal last week. She informed that the girl was scheduled to record her statement before a magistrate today, but she fell sick. Therefore, she could not record the statement and further action would be taken after it is recorded, the SP said. BSP MLA Manoj Kumar also raised the issue of law and order, and referred to a gang-war and shootout incident that took place last month at the Rajgarh court, in Churu district. Responding to this, Home Minister Gulabchand Kataria admitted that there was no mechanism in courts to check people entering the premises for weapons, and assured the House that a system would be put in place soon so that such incidents were not repeated. One person had died and an advocate was injured in the firing incident at Rajgarh court on 18 January.