It’s time for a repeat act

The Congress has planned a parallel Vidhan Sabha between 12 noon and 3 pm at the Town Hall in Ahmedabad in protest against the suspension from the entire session on Thursday amid a police presense.

Leader of the Opposition Amarsinh Chaudhary said the parallel Vidha Sabha will raise issues of the earthquake and drought which have not been allowed in the House and will pass a no confidence motion against the state government.

"It will have all the makings of the Vidhan Sabha and it is a mark of protest as we have not been allowed to sit in the House," Mr Chaudhary said. Hasmukh Patel will be the chief minister while Himmatlal Mulani will be the Speaker. Madhusudan Mistry will be the industry minister and Girish Parmar will be the prohibition minister, according to sources. The posts of the remaining members are being worked out. The parallel Vidhan Sabha takes the clock back to February 18, 1981 during the rule of former chief minister Madhavsinh Solanki at the time of the sixth Vidhan Sabha session. That session had ended with due regrets and apologies expressed for holding it.

A maiden session of a parallel Vidhan Sabha had been convened in the town hall where 28 members suspended by the then Speaker Natwarlal Shah had gathered at the Town Hall in protest against suspension of the entire Opposition on February 17 for "disorderly behaviour during the speech of the then finance minister Sanat Mehta". The GPCC has announced holding of a parallel Vidhan Sabha at the town hall between 12 noon and 3 pm on Tuesday.

In 1981, the Opposition was supporting an anti reservation stir of agitating medicos while the state government led by the then home minister Prabodh Raval had said in the House that it would not tolerate any move against the backward classes. Those suspended included Lok Dal leader Chimanbhai Patel, BJP leader Ashok Bhatt, Makarand Desai, Babu Vasanwala, Dhola Gohil, Dahya Patel, Hari Chavda, Mohansinh Rathwa and others.

About 28 MLAs sat on wooden folded chairs while Babu Vasanwala presided as the Speaker in front of a garlanded statue of Mahatma Gandhi where a motion censuring the state government had been presented. The session at that time had been cut short and adjourned at 2 pm due to noisy demands of agitated students who wished to know where the MLAs were when they were facing the police lathicharge. A breach of privilege motion had been passed in the Vidhan Sabha then and the matter had been referred to the privilege committee. Almost all leading members of the Opposition had given letters to regret for holding a parallel Vidhan Sabha and the matter had been dropped during a previlege committee meeting in 1985 according to sources.

The present leader of the Opposition, Amarsinh Chaudhary, has expressed "regret" once too often. He had done so in the previous session against the wishes of the other Congress members during the issue of the RSS circular and he did so on Sunday when he expressed regrets and assured Speaker Dhirubhai Shah that his members will not do anything that may cause emotional pain to the Speaker. He also requested the Speaker not to go ahead with the fast as it would focus the attention of the national and electronic media. Another regret may prove too discomfiting for him and his party members.

Republished from Asian Age