The Opposition and treasury benches were locked in a heated debate in the Council on Thursday over the promised reservation for the Dhangar (shepherd) community. The noisy exchanges forced the Council chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar to initially adjourn the House twice for 10 minutes each, and then for an hour.
However, as both the ruling and opposition members continued to argue and shout slogans against each other, the chairman adjourned the House for the day.
The point was raised by Congress legislators under Rule 97 on Thursday. However, there was pandemonium when ruling party members objected to the unparliamentary language used by Congress MLC Bhai Jagtap. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena members trooped into the well of the House shouting slogans against the Opposition. Speaking during the debate, Mr Jagtap said the Government has failed to fulfil a promise made after this government was formed. That promise still remains on paper. “Why have you [government] fooled the community. They [Dhangars] are not a family property (they do not belong to your dad’s estate). Immediate justice must be given to them and Government must fulfil its promise,” Mr. Jagtap said.
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Noisy scenes followed the statement forcing the chairman to adjourn the proceedings. Members of the treasury benches raised objections to the statement by Mr Jagtap and Ramhari Rupnavar who had accused the government of being lethargic in pursuing the quota for Dhangars with the Centre. “In this State, Dhangar community is recognised as a nomadic tribe and constitutionally it falls under Scheduled Tribe (ST) category. The government should have worked out a way to find them reservation on the lines it has given to the Maratha community,” he said.
Mr. Jagtap asked if the Government was waiting for people to commit suicide on this issue.
The Maratha community had to undertake 54 morchas and 42 people died before they were given a reservation, the Opposition asked. “I have been in the House for 15 years and my civility has never been questioned. I will not accept the removal of my words from the record or apologise. There is nothing objectionable in what I have said in the House,” Mr. Jagtap said when asked to apologise to the Chairman for use of objectionable language.
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Opposition members said the ruling parties wanted to deliberately stall proceedings since they did not want a debate on the issue of corruption by their ministers which was scheduled later in day. “The government can make a provision of ₹1,000 crore for their development but cannot even make the report of the Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS) public. This is a clear indication they do not want to give quota to the community,” leader of the Opposition Dhananjay Munde said outside the House.