Amidst suspension of entire opposition from the house proceedings, the Gujarat Assembly on Tuesday passed Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill. Before the Bill was introduced in the House, members of the opposition party were suspended from the proceedings after ruckus over the issue of flogging of Dalits by cow vigilante group in Una.
During a discussion on atrocities on Dalits in Una, Congress members rushed to the Well displaying placards stating BJP was “anti-Dalit” and threw bangles towards the members in the Treasury Benches.
Dressed in banner suits, opposition members continued their protests near the Well, which led to eviction of them from the House by the marshals. Subsequently, Assembly speaker Ramanlal Vora suspended almost 50 members except the Leader of the Opposition and Deputy Leader, who had remained seated.
Mr Vora, who was elected as Speaker of the assembly on Monday, said the “opposition party came in the house with their pre-planned strategy to disrupt the proceedings instead of debating the issue of atrocities on Dalits.”
Raising the issue of atrocities against Dalits in the State, senior Congress legislator Raghavji Patel sought to know what actions the government had taken against those who had assaulted Dalits in Una and also those returning from the Dalit Pride March.
When the Minister of the State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja was replying, leader of the opposition Shankersinh Vaghela demanded a judicial probe by a sitting high court in the Una flogging issue, prompting the opposition members to stand up from their seat and raise slogans and placards.
Meanwhile, after the GST Bill was debated by the members of the ruling party, Mr. Vora announced that the Bill was passed unopposed in the House.
Deputy Chief Minister who handles finance portfolio Nitin Patel, who introduced the bill in the house, lauded the central government for building a consensus on GST, which will help in boosting GDP growth in the country.
Outside the Assembly, the Congress held a Jan Akrosh rally in the state capital to highlight failures of the state BJP government. More than 1500 Congress party workers and top leaders were detained by the police when they tried to enter the secretariat. The government had closed all five gates of the secretariat, fearing the Congress members would create ruckus.
