Guwahati: Heated discussions took place in Assam Assembly on Saturday over alleged police encounters in the state, following which the house was adjourned for an hour.
As the house reassembled, Speaker Biswajit Daimary cautioned members to be guarded in the choice of words and maintain ‘limit’ during debates and discussions.
The heated exchange of words between the treasury and opposition benches started towards the end of Question Hour when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pijush Hazarika was responding to a query by AIUDF legislator Aminul Islam regarding different crimes and encounters.
Replying on behalf of Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who holds the Home portfolio, Hazarika claimed there has been no “encounter” in the state but suspected criminals were either killed or injured in police firing while trying to escape.
Independent legislator Akhil Gogoi, however, claimed that the minister’s statement was wrong. The Congress MLAs also stood up and opposed Hazarika’s statement.
The ruling BJP legislators countered the Opposition benches, with one of their members, Rupjyoti Kurmi, making some allegations against the Opposition parties that got expunged later.
All Opposition parties, including the AIUDF, took umbrage at Kurmi’s allegation as an exchange of words ensued between both sides, with Daimary trying to pacify the House.
He urged the members to keep their cool, and said, “The House is for debates, not fights.”
As the members of the treasury and opposition benches continued to trade charges, the Speaker adjourned proceedings for an hour.
When the House reassembled, Daimary ordered the expunging of Kurmi’s remarks over which the Opposition parties had taken offence.
“Limits are crossed and unparliamentary words are also used at times. This leads to problems in running the House. Today’s was a similar incident,” the Speaker said.
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He asked the members to be careful in their words and not target anyone personally so that constructive discussions can take place.
Earlier, in his reply, Hazarika said 26 instances of clashes have taken place between police and criminals in the state in the last two years, in which 30 were killed and 12 injured.
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