When legislators turned lawless: top five instances

March 13, 2015 08:01 pm | Updated March 14, 2015 07:20 am IST

The violence witnessed in the Kerala Assembly on Friday as the Finance Minister presented his budget is by no means an isolated occurrence. India's State Assemblies have witnessed their share of lawlessness. Here is a list of five unforgettable instances:

>March 13, 2015 Kerala

 

Police lathi-charge and tear-gas necessitated after Opposition LDF MLAs destroy furniture in the State Assembly, protesting State Finance Minister K.M. Mani’s bid to present annual budget. Announcing that the LDF would hold a sit-in in the House, Leader of Opposition stressed that Mr. Mani was involved in a Vigilance case, had misused his official position. MLA P. Thilothaman claimed the sanctity of the budget had been lost as Mr. Mani had sold it for personal gains.

> Read More...
Tamil Nadu

Speaker’s podium damaged, files torn up as members of DMDK and AIADMK exchange barbs on each other’s party leaders. The scuffle began after an AIADMK leader made a jibe against DMDK chief Vijayakant’s absence in the House. This was followed by Deputy Leader of Opposition S. Mohanraj's rebuttal, a remark later expunged, on AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, before being evicted from the House.

> Read More...

>February 20, 2015

 

>July 22, 2010 Bihar

 

Opposition attacks Speaker, Chairman of Legislative Council while demanding ouster of former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and then Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi over alleged irregularities, amounting to Rs. 11,412 crore, in development schemes. Opposition MLAs had sat in dharna overnight outside the Assembly premises. Political observers claim, however, that the violence was orchestrated for TV channels and local media.

> Read More...
Maharashtra

13 MNS MLAs assault SP MLA Abu Azmi in Assembly for taking oath in Hindi rather than Marathi. His microphone is snatched at, slippers are flung at him, and he is hit on the head with a stack of papers. Before the session, Mr. Azmi had requested the Assembly secretary to be allowed to swear oath in Hindi, the national language. To this, MNS chief Raj Thackeray had retorted, “…he should go to Uttar Pradesh”. The incident was an offshoot of a longer rivalry — Mr. Azmi had clashed with Mr. Thackeray in 2008 over the issue of the party’s violence against North Indians.

> Read More...

>November 10, 2009

 

>October 22, 1997 Uttar Pradesh

 

Left party MLAs and BJP lawmakers fling chairs, microphones at one another during and after a debate on vote of confidence for the ruling BJP. The melee pitted BJP legislators against centrist and leftist opposition groups, who later stormed out of the chamber. The vote of confidence was called for after then coalition partner BSP expressed anger over the then Kalyan Singh govt.’s anti-Dalit agenda.

> Read More...
0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.