Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) disrupted the Assembly on Thursday to protest Wednesday’s alleged manhandling of Opposition legislators by ruling front MLAs and Watch and Ward officials.
An all-party meeting chaired by Speaker A.N. Shamseer, attended by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan, to calm frayed tempers and ensure smooth conduct of legislative business made no headway.
The UDF rejected the ruling front’s reconciliatory gesture by demanding that the Speaker take decisive action against those responsible for injuring at least four Opposition MLAs.
The UDF legislators raised anti-government slogans and held banners in the House at the question hour’s start, drowning Mr. Shamseer’s appeals for calm.
Mr. Satheesan said that CPI(M) legislators attacked Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader K.K. Rema, MLA, and fractured her arm.
Ms. Rema had arrived at the House with her arm in a cast. She accused CPI(M) legislator H. Salam of having inflicted the injury.
The chaos precluded Ms. Rema from moving a Rule 50 notice seeking the leave of the House for an adjournment debate on Wednesday’s incidents in the Assembly.
Mr. Satheesan said Deputy Chief Marshal Moideen Hussain acted as CPI(M) ‘s catspaw. He said the Speaker remained a distant and unmoving authority as wardens and treasury bench legislators physically targeted UDF members.
Mr. Satheesan demanded that the Speaker act against Mr. Salam and CPI(M) legislator Sachin Dev for allegedly attacking Opposition legislators. He desired the Speaker to penalise Mr. Moideen. “It can’t be business as usual”, he warned.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister K. Radhakrishnan said the government would wait until the Speaker issued his ruling before it made a statement.
Mr. Shamseer termed the incidents in the House on Wednesday as unfortunate and unprecedented. He said UDF legislators should introspect if their protest in front of the Speaker’s office on Wednesday contradicted the best legislative propriety and convention traditions.
The Speaker also took strong exception to the use mobile phones to broadcast House proceedings to the outside world.
Mr. Shamseer said the chair would rule on Wednesday’s incidents later. He hurried through the proceedings and adjourned the House for the day. The Assembly would reconvene on Friday.
