The Uttar Pradesh Assembly speaker, Satish Mahana, was visibly upset at a remark made on his manner of functioning during Question Hour today.
The remark was that the Speaker was forcing the House to be in order. “Are you saying that discipline in the House does not come from inside?...Is it being forced on you? I am not ready to accept this accusation”, said Mahana before he removed his headphones and suspended Question Hour for 20 minutes. Speaker added he would not accept the charge that he did not allow the opposition to speak freely in the House.
Mahana, who was minister of industries in the previous government, has earned praise for giving the opposition ample time and opportunity to present its viewpoints.
Today, he even went on to say that he would not permit even a ‘dot’ to be lessened in the respect that was due to Leader of the Opposition. He asked the House members whether previous Assemblies have accepted as many notices as the current one.
This earned him fresh praise from the Opposition, with one member saying that the UP Assembly had reached fresh heights under the Speaker. “You have been the guardian of all 403 legislators in the Assembly”.
Another opposition member said that Mahana’s name would go down in ‘golden letters’ in the history of the Assembly. “You enjoy a respect that even this government does not have”, said the member.
Suresh Khanna, minister for Parliamentary Affairs said, “The members of the Opposition might have emotionally made some comments…the experience was unpleasant and we hope that it will not be repeated”.
The Assembly is currently conducting the Monsoon session, which started on August 7 on a stormy note with the demand that the incident in Manipur be discussed in the House. Akhilesh Yadav, leader of the Samajwadi Party also demanded that a censure motion be passed against the government.
