NEW DELHI, 23 April 2008 — Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) lawmakers forced brief adjournments of both houses of Parliament yesterday when they disrupted proceedings by shouting slogans and demanding an 800-billion-rupee development package for Uttar Pradesh. BSP chief Mayawati is the chief minister of the northern state.
BSP members alleged discrimination against Uttar Pradesh and raised slogans against the federal United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in both houses.
“Stop politics in the name of Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal,” the BSP members shouted in the Lok Sabha, or the lower house. In the Rajya Sabha (upper house), the BSP members left their seats and started shouting: “Uttar Pradesh ke saath bhed bhav band karo, band karo (Stop discriminating against Uttar Pradesh).”
Despite repeated pleas from presiding officers, the legislators kept disturbing house proceedings. The newly sworn-in members of BSP, Akbar Ahmad Dumpy and Kushal Tiwari, also joined the protests, prompting Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to criticize them for displaying such behavior on their first day.
The BSP legislators in the Lok Sabha also launched a veiled attack on Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi for “politicizing” issues concerning farmers in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Gandhi has been visiting Uttar Pradesh fairly frequently in the recent past. On Friday, he forced state officials to hear farmers’ complaints on the rural job guarantee scheme, a flagship program of the Manmohan Singh government.
The BSP legislators demanded discussion on the farmers’ plight in Bundelkhand.
As the BSP members continued shouting slogans, Chatterjee adjourned the Lok Sabha for 50 minutes. The BSP members raised slogans again, when the houses reassembled and staged a walkout.
