Patna: The assembly on Wednesday witnessed uproarious scenes by the opposition members in both pre and post lunch sessions, as Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav rejected their demand for a discussion on the Waqf Amendment Bill.
Seeing the disruptions in proceedings, the Speaker adjourned the House within ten minutes after the conclusion of the question hour in the pre-lunch session. In the post-lunch session, the unrelenting opposition staged a walkout from the House.
As a result, the proceedings related to the zero hour could not be taken up.
In the post-lunch session, the House, comprising only the ruling treasury benches, passed by voice vote two Bills introduced by the govt without conducting the amendment motions related to them, as the opposition members had walked out. The opposition members entered the well of the House to press for their demands. They also raised slogans, insisting that CM Nitish Kumar, who was present in the House, make a statement regarding the Waqf Amendment Bill.
A few of them even banged the table of the assembly’s official reporters in the well, while former minister and RJD member Sameer Kumar Mahaseth sat on a dharna there. The noisy scenes were repeated in the post-lunch session too.
Earlier, the opposition members had submitted an adjournment notice to the Speaker for an immediate discussion on the Waqf Amendment Bill. They pleaded with the Speaker that they should at least be allowed to read out the content of the adjournment notice they had served.
“The adjournment notice served by the opposition members could not be taken up for technical reasons, and no discussion can be held on it because the House is having official business in the post-lunch session,” the Speaker told them, rejecting the adjournment notice.
“Besides, the Waqf Amendment Bill cannot be discussed in the House since it is a central govt matter. There is a proper platform available, as the JPC is looking into it, and, therefore, submit your pleas and contentions to it,” the Speaker said.
Later, in the post-lunch session, the Speaker also told the agitating opposition members that their points of view “have already been published in the newspapers, and they have aired their grievances in the electronic and digital media too.” However, the dissatisfied opposition members walked out of the House.
Later, talking to reporters, Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan, RJD chief whip Shaheen, and CPI(ML) leader Mahboob Alam maintained that the Speaker should have allowed a discussion on the move of the Union govt, which is basically aimed at alienating the Waqf Board from its property across the country, including Bihar.
“We wanted CM Nitish Kumar to speak on the matter because he has his secular and socialist credentials intact. We will now go to the people and explain to them the protection that the Constitution has given to the minority sections, which the Union govt has been trying to take away from them,” Alam said.