UP budget session off to a rough start, governor’s address drowned in din

The budget session of the Uttar Pradesh legislature got off to a noisy start on Thursday (February 13) with opposition members shouting anti-government slogans during Governor Anandiben Patel’s address to the joint sitting of both the Houses.

Opposition members rushed into the Well displaying placards and raising slogans on issues ranging from the amended citizenship law, unemployment and farmer distress as the governor continued reading out her address.

The governor’s speech, a vision document of the Yogi Adityanath government, was drowned in the din. The tension was evident even before the sitting began at 11 am with opposition Samajwadi Party legislators, donning red caps, assembling in front of the statue of Chaudhary Charan Singh in the Vidhan Bhawan campus to vent their ire.

Carrying placards such as “Naujawano ko rozar do” (Provide employment), “Kisan virodhi Bhajpa sarkar gaddi chodo” (Anti-farmer BJP has to quit) and “Humko CAA nahi shanti chahiye,” (We need peace, not CAA) the SP members staged a protest before the statue. They were also agitated over the crime situation in the state, the steep hike in the price of domestic LPG cylinder and delay in the payment of arrears to sugarcane farmers.

The SP legislators were led by leaders of opposition in both the Houses, Ram Govind Chaudhary (Assembly) and Ahmed Hasan (Council).