GUWAHATI: An Assam minister on Friday raised the pitch for a “detention room” within the Assembly complex to prevent suspended MLAs from going out.
Speaking in the House during the ongoing Winter Session, cabinet minister Bimal Borah made this unusual suggestion to Speaker Biswajit Daimary.
“I have a suggestion. During Assembly proceedings, some members tend to create a disruptive atmosphere. You suspend them but they misinterpret their suspension before the media outside,” Borah told the Speaker.
“Therefore, a room should be set up within the Assembly premises to keep the members after suspension so that they cannot go outside,” Borah suggested.
The Speaker said he would examine the suggestion.
Borah made the suggestion after Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi was suspended for interrupting proceedings in the House.
Meanwhile, Gogoi, the activist-turned-politician, wasted no time in hitting back at Borah, questioning the latter’s knowledge on House proceedings.
“I studied with Bimal. He does not understand democracy, Constitution, rules and regulations. He has become a minister but I believe he has not completely gone through the Constitution,” the Sivasagar MLA said.
He further stated that it would be a daunting task for anyone to educate Borah about transparent governance, democracy, Assembly and freedom of speech.
During this Assembly session, members of ruling BJP, including Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, took potshots at Gogoi multiple times for frequently interrupting members during discussions.
Gogoi had faced a brief suspension on the first day of the five-day session on Tuesday for entering the Well of the House and displaying a poster of the late Zubeen Garg. The incident occurred during a discussion under an adjournment motion on the music icon’s mysterious death in Singapore.
In Assam, the term “detention centre” is synonymous with illegal immigrants. The state currently has one detention centre at Matia in Goalpara district where people declared “foreigners” by the foreigners’ tribunals are kept.