PATNA: Pandemonium prevailed in the Bihar Assembly today with the Opposition vociferously protesting over police assault on agitating Dalit students and a legislator fainting inside the House after being physically pulled down from a table he stood on during the protest.
As the House sat for the day, Leader of Opposition Prem Kumar and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi rose from their seats and demanded the Speaker take up the issue of police beating up Dalit students in the city yesterday while they were agitating over lowering of the post-matriculation scholarship amount for SC/ST students.
When Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary refused to do so, BJP and its allies trooped into Well of the House and raised anti-government slogans.
Prem Kumar, Manjhi and senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav also sat on the floor of the Well in protest.
CPI-ML MLA Mehboob Alam, who had joined the Opposition protest climbed on a table holding a placard when Chaudhary ordered the marshals to take him down.
As the marshals bodily lifted him down, the MLA slipped on the floor and fainted.
As the marshals were busy attending to Alam, some BJP MLAs including Vijay Sinha and Sanjeev Chaurasia climbed on the same table. They were also brought down by the marshals.
The CPI-ML MLA was latter brought out of the House by BJP MLAs and taken to Patna Medical College and Hospital in an ambulance.
The Speaker tried to conduct the Question Hour but had to adjourn the House till recess as all efforts to persuade the protesting legislators failed to bring order.
The protesting NDA MLAs sat at the entrance of the Assembly and raised slogans against the government.
At least seven policemen and six students were injured here in brick-batting and police lathicharge on Dalit students protesting against the lowering of scholarship for SC and ST students here yesterday.
BJP had attacked the government over the issue.