Jignesh Mevani, 14 Congress MLAs suspended for day amid din in Guj Assembly; evicted by marshals

Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani and 14 legislators of the opposition Congress were suspended for a day from the Gujarat Assembly for unruly behaviour and evicted by marshals. As soon as the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly began, Leader of Opposition Sukhram Rathva demanded a special half-hour discussion on the issues concerning agitating government employees, farmers, Anganwadi workers and ex-servicemen.

When Speaker Nimaben Acharya refused Rathvas demand, Mevani and other MLAs of Congress rushed near the well of the House and started shouting slogans.

They raised placards with slogans “give justice to employees”, “give justice to forest staff”, and “give justice to ex-servicemen”.

“When so many employees of almost all the departments are agitating over their pending issues, why is the BJP not ready to hold a discussion in the House?” asked Deputy LoP, Shailesh Parmar, amid continuous sloganeering by his party colleagues.

When Opposition MLAs refused to go back to their seats as directed by the Speaker, Gujarat Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Trivedi proposed suspension of the legislators sitting in the well.

With the majority voice vote, Acharya suspended Mevani and 14 other Congress MLAs for the day. They were evicted by marshals from the floor of the House.

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