Guwahati: Budget Session of the Assam Assembly began amidst chaos, during which the largest opposition Congress objected on ‘saffronisation’ of assembly premises. The Congress MLAs boycotted tea party given in honour of the governor and photo session. They interrupted Governor Jagdish Mukhi’s address and forced him to conclude his address in 5 minutes. The Congress began protesting as soon as the governor in his address told that the government is bound to provide a clean administration.
Alleging that the BJP government did not stick to its promises, opposition party members started shouting slogans ‘sharm karo, sharm karo’ (shame on you, shame on you’).
The Congress members went to the centre of the hall. Following governor’s address, Assam Assembly Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami invited all the members to attend the tea party given in honour of the governor and to a group photo session with the governor. However, Congress MLAs boycotted them.
Congress MLA Abdul Khaliq alleged that attempts were made to “saffronise” the premises of the House. He said, attempts were being made to “saffronise the Assembly and the colours of only one party’s flag were used to decorate the premises”. “We are boycotting the photo session and the tea party in protest,” he said.
Tents of saffron and green — also the colours of the BJP flag — were erected in the Central Hall of the Assembly and on the compound, but were removed on Tuesday morning after it was reported widely by local TV news channels on Monday night.
Former chief minister Tarun Gogoi at a press conference said “The government is run by the RSS, not by the chief minister or Himanta (Biswa Sarma). It is a matter of big concern that they (RSS) are now trying to capture the Assembly.”