Speaker suspends Cong MLAs, withdraws order later

Assam Assembly Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami on Thursday suspended two opposition Congress MLAs from the House for refusing to obey his ruling, but he withdrew the suspension order after some time following a request by the parliamentary affairs minister. Following their suspension, Kamalakhya Purkayastha and Rupjyoti Kurmi were marshalled out of the House after they continued questioning Chandra Mohan Patowary, who is also the industry minister, and refused to sit down obeying the Speaker.

They returned to the House after the suspension order was revoked. Noisy scenes prevailed in the House during Question Hour after the two MLAs asked supplementary questions to Patowary about when 3.61 lakh people had got jobs as claimed by him.

As opposition Congress and ruling BJP legislators exchanged heated words, Speaker Goswami was seen repeatedly asking Purkayastha and Kurmi to sit down as he was standing. When they did not sit down, the Speaker said the two Congress MLAs were suspended for the day and ordered marshals to take them out of the House.

Around half an hour after the two were removed, Patowary said to the Speaker, "As we believe in Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas, I as the parliamentary affairs minister urge you to withdraw your order suspending Rupam Kurmi and Kamalakhya Purkayastha and allow them to attend the House today." Goswami then revoked his suspension order stating that he had suspended them as he wants to conduct the proceedings in a disciplined and efficient manner giving members of all parties equal opportunity to participate in the proceedings. To a query of AGP member Pabindra Deka earlier, Patowary said 3.61 lakh people from the state have got employment in new startups and skill development industries.

The minister said, "As per the Industrial and Investment Policy of Assam, 2019, any industrialist setting up a unit in the state has to engage indigenous people in 80 per cent of their managerial posts and 10 per cent in other posts." Purkayastha and Kurmi told reporters outside the House that they wanted to know from Patowary when and where these 3.61 lakh people had been employed but he did not give the exact reply. Goswami had suspended Congress member Sherman Ali Ahmed on Monday when the MLA refused to sit down after he was denied permission to raise an issue related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

After the Speaker allowed Purkayastha and Kurmi to return to the House on Thursday, Ahmed said on a lighter note that though he is marshalled out regularly, neither his party colleagues nor the parliamentary affairs minister sought withdrawal of his suspension. As the members broke into laughter, Goswami told the Congress MLA that next time he will take it up suo motu.

Ahmed had been suspended and marshalled out in the previous session also..