LUCKNOW: In an embarrassment to his own government, the controversial BJP MLA Nand Kishore Gujjar staged a protest in the Assembly on Tuesday, the opening day of the winter session, alleging harassment by Ghaziabad police administration.
This is the first instance in the legislative history of the country that a ruling party lawmaker staged a protest against his own government on the floor of the house.
Gujjar, however, gained support from over 100 BJP, SP and Congress MLAs in opposing the alleged high-handedness of police authorities. All the MLAs were shouting slogans — 'Vidhayak Ekta Jinadabad' (long live MLAs’ unity) — on the floor of the house while sitting on a dharna.
The protest, however, ended at around 6 pm after the assurance of Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit that he would lend an ear to Gujjar’s problem and get it rectified.
The situation turned into an embarrassment for the ruling party when Gujjar stood up to narrate his tale of alleged police atrocities on him but was not given time to speak during zero hour as parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna asked him to sit down.
Consequently, some BJP MLAs came in Gujjar’s support demanding time for him to present his issue. They were joined by the SP and Congress MLA's as well.
Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chaudhary said that as a legislator, Gujjar was well within his rights to speak and that SP would support him.
Despite all the support, Speaker Hriday Narayan Dikshit did not allow Gujjar to speak and adjourned the house twice.
The MLA demanded that Ghaziabad SSP Sudhir Singh should be summoned to the house and penalised.
SP MLAs entered the well of the house and started shouting slogans against the government.
Clamour ensued as some ministers and senior BJP leaders were seen trying to convince the angry MLA against raising such issues in the assembly.
The Speaker then intervened and assured Gujjar that he would listen to his grievances in his chamber.
But the protests continued and the Speaker adjourned the house till Wednesday 11 am.
Nand Kishore Gujjar, BJP MLA from Loni assembly segment in Ghaziabad, has been in the news for wrong reasons recently.
His minor son was caught for committing an accede while driving at high speed.
Gujjar was involved in an altercation with elections official and recently, his representative was arrested for violating traffic rules and misbehaving with the cops.
He was also issued a show-cause notice by state BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh when he slapped a food security officer last month.
He even wrote a letter to chief minister Yogi Adityanath alleging that some people in the party were conspiring to eliminate him.