UP govt made mockery of religion by holding cabinet meet at Kumbh: SP MLC


PTI | Lucknow | Updated: 06-02-2019 20:12 IST | Created: 06-02-2019 20:12 IST
UP govt made mockery of religion by holding cabinet meet at Kumbh: SP MLC

The Samajwadi Party on Wednesday clashed with the ruling BJP in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, accusing its government of making a mockery of religion by holding a cabinet meeting at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. During Zero Hour, SP members barged into the well of the House and raised slogans against the BJP-led state government.

SP member Shatarudra Prakash said clicking photographs while taking a holy dip at the Sangam was a clear violation of the United Provinces Melas Rule, 1940. According to Prakash, Section 18 of the 'Uttar Pradesh Prayagraj Mela Pradhikaran Adhiniyam-2017' stated that collection of people for any purpose other than religious work was prohibited in the Kumbh area. "The holding of the cabinet meeting in the Kumbh Mela area is definitely a non-religious programme."

The SP MLC said the photographs of the cabinet ministers taking a holy dip in the Sangam and getting themselves clicked were widely published on the electronic media. "The entire cabinet should have desisted from such a derogatory and non-serious behaviour," Prakash said. Leader of the House and Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma said there was no ban on holding cabinet meeting anywhere. Sharma also demanded that the SP members should apologise for "hurting religious sentiments".

The pictures were clicked at the 'selfie points' and the ones that have been published were taken by the media and they cannot be stopped from doing so, Sharma pointed out. Without taking names of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Sharma wondered if it was not wrong when senior Opposition leaders get clicked while taking the holy dip.

The deputy chief minister said words used by Prakash had "hurt the religious beliefs" and were not befitting for use in the House. Sharma's comments were objected by the SP, leading to a war of words with the treasury benches and prompting the party members to barge into the well of the house.

Another minister, Mahendra Pratap Singh, was heard saying "astha par chot karna band karo (stop attacking faith)". Chairman Ramesh Yadav adjourned the house for 20 minutes.

When the proceedings resumed, Leader of Opposition Ahmed Hasan alleged that the BJP government was only concerned with elections and "saffronising" all events and programmes. PTI SAB HMB ASH HMB

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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