UP assembly session: Paper balls thrown at governor, opposition disrupts House

Lucknow: The maiden session of the newly elected Uttar Pradesh assembly began on a stormy note on Monday with opposition members throwing paper balls at governor Ram Naik during his address and marshals trying to dodge them with files.

The customary address of the governor to the joint sitting of the two Houses of the state legislature was drowned in the uproar created by the opposition. Throughout the governor’s 35-minute address, Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator Rajesh Yadav blew a whistle to ensure that his address is not heard.

All the while, others threw paper balls, some of which hit the governor despite marshals trying their best to shield him. Slogan-shouting opposition members trooped into the Well with banners, placards, donning caps and raising anti-government slogans.

When the governor started reading out his address, the entire opposition comprising members of Samajwadi Party, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) started slogan shouting against the government over the issue of law and order.

A BSP placard read “police pit rahi thano me, Yogi tere zamane me” (police getting beaten up in Yogi’s regime), “goraksha ke naam par gundai band karo” (stop hooliganism in the name of cow protection)”. SP legislators also sought to corner the government on law and order issues.

Congress too joined the opposition with slogans like “Kanoon Vyastha Dhwasth Hai, Sarkar Bucharkhane, teen talaq me vyast hai” (law and order is in a shambles, government is busy in issues like slaughter house and triple talaq).

The governor was flanked by Dixit and chairman of the legislative council Ramesh Yadav. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath was present when the governor read the 84-page address despite the bedlam. The address is a note prepared by the government highlighting its achievements.

For the first time, the proceedings were telecast live by Doordarshan. After the BJP came to power in the state, a decision was taken to telecast live the proceedings of the House so that people could benefit. “Sara Uttar Pradesh dekh raha hai aap ko (the entire Uttar Pradesh is watching you),” a visibly annoyed governor told the shouting members, who kept throwing papers at the podium and creating din.

“Sadan ki garima banaye rakhiye” (Maintain dignity of the House,” the governor appealed to the agitated members, but it went unheeded. The opposition SP and BSP have decided to take on the Yogi Adityanath government over the issue of law and order.

Later talking to reporters, SP legislature party leader Ram Govind Chowdhury said law and order has collapsed in the BJP regime. “Rape and murders have increased. Even incidents of rape with children have gone up...This government is a failure,” Chowdhury charged.

Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Pratap Lallu also tried to put the state government on the dock over the issue of law and order. “Crime in the state has increased and state government has failed to take any concrete action against law breakers,” he charged.