Assembly adjourns in nine minutes; aggressive opposition protest over criminal charges on UDF legislators

UDF legislators slammed the State Government for slapping non-bailable criminal charges against UDF members, including women MLAs, for their protest in front of the office of Speaker A. N. Shamsheer

The Kerala Legislative Assembly adjourned nine minutes after it convened on Friday following raucous protests by the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition.

Opposition legislators vociferously condemned the government for slapping non-bailable criminal charges against UDF members, including women MLAs, for their protest in front of the office of Speaker A. N. Shamsheer on Wednesday.

Opposition Leader V. D. Satheesan said the Speaker’s recurrent denial of the UDF’s rule 50 notices for adjournment debates on matters of pressing public importance warranted the protest.

Nevertheless, a set of watch and ward officials and ruling front MLAs attacked the opposition legislators who were staging a sit-in demonstration outside the Speaker’s to protect their Parliamentary Privilege.

He said that hours before Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called the opposition for a reconciliatory meeting in the Speaker’s chamber on Thursday, the State police booked UDF legislators on severe criminal charges that offered little scope for bail and entailed a punishment of more than ten years of rigorous imprisonment.

Mr. Satheesan accused Mr. Vijayan of duplicity. He said the police, at the behest of their political masters, booked UDF legislators for rioting, attacking law enforcers on duty and criminal trespass.

The police overlooked the injuries inflicted on opposition MLAs by their ruling front counterparts and imposed lenient charges on the attack’s perpetrators, including a few wardens.