Jignesh Mevani, 14 Congress MLAs suspended for day amid din in Gujarat Assembly
The Hindu
MLAs forcibly evicted by marshals
Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani and 14 legislators of the opposition Congress were suspended for a day from the Gujarat Assembly for unruly behaviour and were forcibly evicted by marshals amid chaotic scenes.
As soon as the proceedings of the two-day Legislative Assembly session began, Leader of Opposition Sukhram Rathva demanded a special half-hour discussion on the issues concerning agitating government employees, farmers, Anganwadi workers and ex-servicemen.
When Speaker Nimaben Acharya refused Mr. Rathva's demand, Mr. Mevani and other MLAs of Congress rushed near the well of the House and started shouting slogans.
They raised placards with slogans "give justice to employees", "give justice to forest staff", and "give justice to ex-servicemen".
"When so many employees of almost all the departments are agitating over their pending issues, why is the BJP not ready to hold a discussion in the House?" asked Deputy Leader of Opposition, Shailesh Parmar, amid continuous sloganeering by his party colleagues.
When Opposition MLAs refused to go back to their seats as directed by the Speaker, Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Trivedi proposed suspension of the legislators sitting in the well.
With the majority voice vote, Ms. Acharya suspended Mr. Mevani and 14 other Congress MLAs for the day.