Guwahati, Dec. 11: Bodoland People's Front (BPF) MLA Pramila Rani Brahma today walked out of the Assam Assembly as Speaker Pranab Gogoi did not allow her to raise a question.
The problem began during Question Hour when Brahma raised her hand to ask a supplementary question on allotment of Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) houses.
The Speaker, however, did not notice Brahma raising her hand and thus did not allow her to ask the question.
Following this, the infuriated BPF legislator staged a walkout from the Assembly, protesting against the Speaker's decision. Brahma also alleged that she felt discriminated against.
The BPF legislator questioned if members of other political parties could be allowed to ask supplementary questions, why she was denied the privilege.
"I am deeply hurt and felt insulted at the way I was discriminated against," Brahma said. "I was denied an opportunity to ask the question despite raising my hand. I wanted to raise the important issue of delay in allotment of IAY houses to the victims of violence in Bodoland Territorial Areas District," she added.
Brahma rued that a senior MLA like her should not have been treated like this. "I have seen many Speakers but had never come across such discrimination," she said.
The Speaker, however, denied Brahma's accusations and also tried to pacify her by explaining that he didn't see her raising hand but to no avail.
This is the second time the Speaker got embroiled in a controversy during the five-day winter session of the Assembly that concluded today.
The Speaker had faced criticism from the BJP leaders, particularly Himanta Biswa Sarma, after he suspended all the five BJP MLAs and seven Congress legislators, who defected to the BJP recently, for the entire winter session last Monday.
The members had been protesting against "deterioration" in law and order in the state, after which the Speaker called the marshals to remove them from the House.
Himanta accused the Speaker of being influenced by chief minister Tarun Gogoi and also alleged that he had given the ruling in order to secure a Congress ticket for his son. Following this, the state government moved a breach of privilege motion against Himanta for lowering the prestige of the House by making derogatory statements against the Speaker.
The BJP observed "black day" today by staging protests at all district headquarters in the state. Assam BJP general secretary Vijay Gupta said the Congress misrule in Assam, suspension of their MLAs from the Assembly and police "brutality" on party members during Dispur gherao last Wednesday were the issues for which they had held the demonstrations.
