Guwahati, Feb 5 – On the opening day of the Budget Session in Assam on Monday, the opposition members disrupted the proceedings by protesting against various issues which forced the Governor Gulab Chand Kataria to cut short his speech.
Kataria had just read a few lines from his 88-page speech when he had to jump to the last paragraph due to persistent opposition from Congress, CPI-M, and independent MLAs during his address to the House.
The Speaker was also informed of the malfunctioning of the audio system by Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha and Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia as soon as the Governor began his speech.
The new Assembly building’s audio system is unintelligible in most areas of the House, including the press gallery and when the Governor was delivering his lecture, the Speaker Biswajit Daimary asked the opposition members to take a seat without interfering.
At this point, the opposition members stood up and continued to raise their voice against the audio system. Some of the members also brought up other issues and displayed placards bearing various slogans, such as opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the reinstatement of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in place of the National Pension System (NPS), the cessation of haphazard eviction drives, and the resignation of the Chief Minister who is holding the Home department due to his inability to apprehend those responsible for the attack on Congress State Chief Bhupen Borah during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
After the Governor left the House, the Speaker notified the members that the speech was deemed read.
He then asked every member of the House for the traditional tea party; however, the opposition boycotted it.
The annual budget will be delivered on February 12.
tdr/dan
