With ‘Gangajal,’ the Tripura opposition protests a BJP MLA ‘who viewed erotica’ in the assembly.
Opposition members protested the “inaction” against BJP MLA Jadav Lal Nath, who was allegedly seen viewing pornographic content on his phone while in the House during the previous session. The first day of the 13th Tripura Assembly’s first budget session began with a massive uproar on Friday.
The protest began with Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman entering the House with a bottle of “Gangajal” and scattering it everywhere he went, ostensibly “purifying” the Assembly of the pornographic incident.
The opposition leader of the TIPRA Motha, Animesh Debbarma, then asked Speaker Biswabandhu Sen for permission to initiate an adjournment motion against MLA Nath. However, Sen implored the Opposition lawmakers to return to their seats and permit the budget to be presented to the House.
As opposition members continued to protest, Finance Minister Pranajit Singha Roy presented the “tax-free, deficit budget” for Rs 27,654,45 crore to the House.
On the other hand, opposition members congregated at the Well to demand that the speaker take action against the BJP MLA. A few agitated members clambered onto the table of the Assembly record writers in front of the secretary’s chair, after which security personnel prevented them from getting closer to the speaker.
As the disturbance persisted for nearly an hour, Chief Minister Manik Saha urged the speaker to suspend five opposition members for disrupting the House proceedings. Consequently, five legislators were suspended from the House for the day: Barman, CPM MLA Nayan Sarkar, TIPRA Motha’s Brishaketu Debbarma, Nandita Reang, and Ranjit Debbarma.
As the Speaker denied the Opposition’s request to reconsider the decision, they all left the chamber in protest.
Shortly after the commotion in the House, Speaker Biswabandhu Sen rescinded the suspension of the opposition MLAs and suspended Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman for the entire four-day budget session for allegedly using unparliamentary language.
Barman allegedly stated that the Speaker had been unable to control his dog since the morning, a remark that many governing legislators interpreted as a reference to themselves. The Speaker then demanded that Barman retract his remark and offer an apology. As the controversy persisted, the Speaker of the House suspended the congressman for the duration of the budget session for using improper language.
Later, the leader of TIPRA Motha, Pradyot Kishore Debbarma, tweeted his disfavour of the Speaker’s actions. “It is regrettable that the Speaker of the Tripura Legislative Assembly did not take any action against MLA Jadab Lal Nath, who was caught watching obscene content in the assembly, and instead suspended five opposition MLAs who demanded action be taken against the offending MLA,” he wrote.
Pradyot also tweeted that if the government and the Speaker were concerned with maintaining the sanity and dignity of the House, they should take “immediate action against the MLA whose heinous act in the temple of democracy brought shame to the entire state.”
In March, a 54-second video footage went viral on social media showing the BJP MLA for Bagbassa in North Tripura allegedly viewing pornographic content on his phone. Speaker Sen spoke about issues such as cut motions on requests for supplementary grants.
However, Nath reported receiving repetitive phone calls and that “obscene videos” began playing automatically after he answered a call. He added that he had quickly deleted the recordings and was aware that the use of mobile phones was prohibited in the Assembly.
