Lucknow, 11 August: On the first day of the monsoon session of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, the proceedings of the Assembly began with the “Vande Mataram” song at 11am on Monday. As soon as the proceedings began, the members of the Samajwadi Party (SP) started a ruckus over the incident that happened in Gorakhpur with the Leader of the Opposition.
The members of the opposition came to the well and started raising slogans and sat on dharna there. The Question Hour fell prey to the uproar of SP. After the Question Hour, the proceedings of the House began but could not last long. The SP members remained in the well. Finally, at 1:07 pm, the proceedings of the House were adjourned till 11 am on Tuesday.
During the Question Hour, before the Speaker of the Assembly Satish Mahana could ask the government to answer the first question, senior SP member Sangram Singh Yadav raised the issue of insult and attack on Leader of Opposition Mata Prasad Pandey in Gorakhpur. The bench was told that if there is any issue, the Leader of Opposition should tell it himself.
On this, Leader of Opposition Mata Prasad Pandey said in the House that the shops of traders are being demolished in the heritage corridor in Gorakhpur. He had gone to meet those same aggrieved traders. During this, he was misbehaved with. His car was attacked. The police administration only kept watching. This should be investigated.
On this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that SP’s belief in democracy is only a pretense. SP and democracy are like two banks of a river.
Chief Minister Yogi said that Mata Prasad Pandey is very senior. Some people are aiming at you by unnecessarily making you a pawn and putting a gun on your shoulder. You should not let this happen. Leader of the House Yogi explained in detail about the heritage corridor of Gorakhpur.
He said that this corridor will work to connect historical places like Gorakhpur’s oldest market, Ghantaghar and Geeta Press. He said that he had inspected the Gorakhpur Heritage Corridor three days before the Leader of Opposition. He talked to each and every trader there. This is the oldest market of Gorakhpur, where there was a problem of congestion and illegal occupation. We have started the work of road construction and removing congestion. Yogi said that he has assured compensation to the traders. The government will ensure that no one suffers any loss during the development work.
Yogi accused the SP that no development work was done in this area during their (SP) tenure. The Chief Minister also said that during the SP regime, 700 to 1500 children used to die of encephalitis every year. Hundreds of children used to die in the Leader of Opposition’s constituency and Siddharthnagar district, but you did nothing. Health, education and development have never been your agenda. The Leader of the House said that the traders of Gorakhpur had opposed the visit of Mata Prasad Pandey, because during the SP tenure, the traders had to face fear and goonda tax.
He said that all the traders of the state have not forgotten the exploitation that happened during the SP tenure. The traders were apprehensive and angry because you went there without being invited and tried to obstruct their development work. Chief Minister Yogi further said that the traders opposed you respectfully.
Chief Minister Yogi said that the present government is running a purification campaign in Sambhal. He said that today we are correcting the negativity that the SP spread in Sambhal. The SP does not give up its old habits and tries to block development.
He said that whether it is Sambhal, Bahraich or Gorakhpur, SP does negative politics everywhere. He said that BJP and NDA government want to bring development, but SP feels bad about it.
Unsatisfied with the answer of the Chief Minister, SP members came to the well. However, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly tried to take the proceedings of the House forward.
Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak also answered a question, but the ruckus of SP continued in the well. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna said that the entire matter has come from the Leader of the House. This is only the political agenda of SP. It has nothing to do with the public’s demands. Now these people (SP) should go to their seats. Otherwise we demand adjournment of the proceedings of the House. The Speaker tried to convince the opposition. When they did not agree, he adjourned the proceedings of the House for 15 minutes at 11:37. After this, the time for adjournment of the House was extended till 12:20. Thus the Question Hour could not run properly.
After the Question Hour, the proceedings of the House resumed at 12:20. Meanwhile, SP members continued to sit in the well and protest. Amidst the uproar, the House expressed condolences on the demise of former members of the Assembly and the Speaker Satish Mahana completed the legislative work. Along with this, seeing the uproar of the opposition, the proceedings of the Assembly were adjourned at 1:07 pm till 11 am on Tuesday.