The Opposition Congress staged a walkout from the state assembly on Friday, protesting the actions of Speaker Ganpat Vasava, which they said were biased.
The Opposition Congress staged a walkout from the state assembly on Friday, protesting the actions of Speaker Ganpat Vasava, which they said were biased.
The walkout took place in the dying minutes of the second session. Speaking in support of the Motion of Thanks for the Governor's address, social justice and empowerment minister, Fakir Vaghela, mentioned comments made by Supreme Court judges against the Union government, which said the government was not committed to secularism.
Angered by the minister's words, opposition MLAs asked Speaker Vasava to intervene and to refrain him from making such comments.
They were particularly angry because just a few minutes ago, the Speaker had passed a ruling directing members to refrain from mentioning court matters while speaking in the House.
Leader of Opposition, Shaktisinh Gohil, described the Speaker's action as biased and accused him of adopting double standards. Led by Gohil, the Congress MLAs created ruckus and staged a walkout from the assembly, when the Speaker did not relent to their demand.
Legislative and parliamentary affairs minister, Dileep Sanghani demanded that the opposition MLAs should be reprimanded for their actions. However, Vasava ruled that court judgements could be mentioned in the House, but they could not be criticized.
During his address, minister Vaghela attacked the Congress for its dynastic policies. "One family (Nehru-Gandhi family) has been ruling the country for 37 years on its own, and seven years as proxy (referring to the UPA governments). A day will come when the country will witness a revolution like in Egypt and other places to overthrown the dynasty," Vaghela said.
The minister said that former home minister Amit Shah had been implicated in the Sohrabuddin murder case by the CBI. He said the Opposition was suffering from 'Narendra Modi Phobia', and described the Congress party as the origin of corruption.
He rebutted the opposition's charge that the state government was anti-minority, saying minorities in Gujarat were doing better than in other states.
He said that per capita income of Muslims in Gujarat was higher than other states, and percentage of Muslims in government jobs in the state was also higher.
Earlier, senior Congress MLA Arjun Modhwadia attacked the state government for ignoring interests of tribals and poor.
He said that applications of thousands of tribals seeking land had been rejected, but huge chunks of land had been given away to industrialists.
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