The Assembly session for the vote-on-account on Thursday was lacklustre and short-lived as it barely survived 30 minutes, consigning it to just a routine exercise with the entire Opposition boycotting it.

The BJP MLAs took their seats, their lips sealed with white masks and walked out of the House before chief minister Ashok Gehlot could present the state’s interim Budget. The CPM members declared they were boycotting the House after Gehlot’s speech, but not before blasting the state government.

Thursday’s session began not with Gehlot but with seasoned MLA from Data Ramgarh, Amra Ram. He complained against the government for denying MLAs the opportunity to speak inside the House. “This government is taking away the right of MLAs to speak. They are representing the people, they should be given time,” he told Speaker Deependra Singh Shekhawat.

The Speaker expressed his own inability in attending to the business of the House other than what has been prescribed by the Business Advisory Committee in consultation with the government. Though, he clarified, that “the Assembly secretariat was completely prepared for an extended session, lest the government decided to go ahead”.

Not convinced, Amra Ram said the incidence of crime has risen in the short tenure of the new government. There are issues that need to be spoken of but the government would not allow the MLAs to speak. He blamed the helplessness of the Assembly, to give more opportunity to its members to debate, on the Congress-BJP swap in the government. “When the BJP is in power it would do the same thing that the Congress government is now resorting to. In such a case, where do the people get heard?” he said. The Assembly remained largely quiet with the BJP walking out after leader of the Opposition, Vasundhara Raje communicated with folded hands to the Speaker that she was seeking his permission to leave. The House approved of the vote-on-account and followed it up by reinstating the Municipalities Act of 1959 without a debate.  

Amra Ram, CPM MLA from Data Ramgarh

"When the BJP is in power it will do the same thing that the Congress government is now resorting to.”

‘bjp is copying their delhi leaders’

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot dismissed allegations of running the government in an autocratic manner, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party itself lacked faith in democratic and constitutional methods. “BJP leaders at the Centre too unnecessarily impede parliamentary proceedings and keep on staging walkouts. The state leaders are taking inspirations from their seniors,” Gehlot said speaking to reporters in the Assembly on Thursday.  

‘democratic values being choked’

Calling the government functioning “autocratic”, ex-CM Vasundhara Raje said it has choked democratic values to such an extreme that it warrants intervention of the President since governor SK Singh did not inspire confidence with his bevy of “unconstitutional remarks”. “I believe the Budget session has been the shortest in the history of state. I’m shocked how the Opposition has been robbed of its opportunity to debate on several issues,” Raje said.

DNA Correspondent/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication