The Assembly witnessed uproar on Wednesday, the final day of the three-day session, when Congress MLA Irfan Ansari sought to link a saffron organisation to the mob lynching of Tabrez Ansari near Jamshedpur in June last year.
Irfan, the MLA from Pakur, made the remark — which was later expunged by Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato — while proposing the vote of thanks on the governor’s speech. Irfan raised the issue of mob lynching incidents during the tenure of the Raghubar Das government.
Though the Speaker directed that the sentence be expunged, BJP legislators kept shouting against Irfan and insisted that the Congress MLA should apologise for making a statement that cannot be substantiated in the House.
The Speaker left the issue of seeking apology to the “conscience of” the MLA.
Irfan, however, refused to apologise.
He went on saying that the Hemant Soren government will conduct thorough probes into all scams that had taken place during the previous government’s tenure and send erring ministers of that government to jail.
That added extra fuel to the fire and the exchange of heated words between the ruling and Opposition lawmakers intensified.
At 12.03pm, the Speaker adjourned the House till 12.15pm. When the proceedings started again, Irfan seemed to soften a bit and said he did not accuse any particular party for the lynching incident but some of the organisation’s members had allegedly been engaged in the thrashing of Tabrez and a similar case in Jamtara.
It triggered more shouts by the Opposition members.
BJP leader C.P. Singh asked how Irfan would feel if someone alleged that the Congress MLA was a terrorist.
The Speaker intervened amid the din, and asked chief minister Hemant Soren to deliver his speech in the House.
BJP legislators reached the Well of the House during Soren’s speech and kept raising slogans against Irfan Ansari.
Amid the uproar, the vote of thanks on the governor’s speech was passed and the House was adjourned till 2pm.
In the second half, a supplementary budget of Rs 4,210 crore was passed by the House after a cut motion brought by Ajsu Party MLA Lambodar Mahto fell through by voice vote after a debate.
Before the supplementary budget was passed, Jamshedpur East MLA Saryu Roy stressed upon the need of physical and financial audit of all projects.
He also suggested ensuring the effectiveness of IAS and IPS officers who are supposed to utilise funds for projects.
Around 4.31pm, BJP legislators boycotted the House when it passed a resolution against attacks on educational institutions including Jamia Millia Islamia University and Jawaharlal Nehru University.