Congress MLAs 'usurp' Speaker amid violent bedlam in Punjab House

Unprecedented violence and bedlam rocked the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday as the Congress MLAs assaulted some of the watch and ward staff members and hurled papers and missiles at the Speaker violently breaking the cordon around him.

Pandemonium prevailed for more than two hours during which Speaker Charanjit Atwal adjourned the House three times amid unruly scenes to bring order in vain. About half a dozen members of the watch and ward staff were badly assaulted.

 At one stage after an adjournment Congress MLA  Jagmohan Singh Kang occupied the seat of the Speaker and made a mock declaration of dissolution of the House. Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal termed it a " disgraceful incident for the house that symbolised murder of democratic traditions".

The violent ruckus broke out as soon as the watch and ward staff barged into the room of leader of the opposition Sajjan Kumar Jhakhar where the girl, who had been assaulted by the police in Tarn Taran last week, was seated with her father. As the Assembly guards sought to move them out, Jkakhar and other MLAs  resisted it and roughed up the staff.

The girl and her father had been earlier denied entrance to the Assembly premises by the Speaker, but Jhakhar got them in raising heckles in the security staff. As the aggressive struggle between some of the MLAs and the Assembly staff continued in the corridors, Jhakhar walked  furiously into the House during the question hour and raised point of order to discuss the matter. The Speaker denied the intervention which made the Congress MLAs stand on their feet and raise slogans against the government.

While the watch and ward staff cordoned the Speaker's chair, the Congress MLAs assaulted some of them and hurled papers and pens at the Speaker, before the House was adjourned for the day.

In a statement later the speaker clarified that he had instructed the staff to oust "all those persons who had come with the leader of the Opposition without proper permission". He held him squarely responsible for the violent bedlam in the House. He said it did not behove the leader of the opposition " to smuggle in persons who had been denied entry". Jhakar , on his part, said he had got the girl and her father inside to address a media conference and comment on the law and orderr situation.