BENGALURU: The controversy over Congress Rajya Sabha member Syed Naseer Hussain’s followers allegedly raising a pro-Pakistan slogan rocked the proceedings in the State Legislative Assembly and Council on Wednesday.
In the Council, marshals had to stop members from marching aggressively towards each other, while in the Assembly, Opposition members tore copies of the Bills passed amid the pandemonium even as they protested in the well of the House.
In both Houses, opposition BJP-JDS and ruling Congress legislators indulged in heated exchanges as they cited local, national and international issues to criticise each other.
The BJP members took up the issue soon after the proceedings started on Wednesday morning. They said the state government has no moral right to continue in power and demanded an NIA probe into the alleged sloganeering on the corridors of Vidhana Soudha.
The ruling party members hit back, while the government assured them of taking action based on a report from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), which will ascertain if a pro-Pakistan slogan was raised. “For the first time in the history of Karnataka, the ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ slogan was raised inside Vidhana Soudha,” said Leader of Opposition R Ashoka.
Abandon fiction, speak truth: Min to BJP
“This is the place where the Constitution is supposed to be safeguarded. Police not taking action against those who raised such a slogan here has created fear among people. Why did your party allow them inside Vidhana Soudha with a red carpet,” Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R Ashoka asked.
He said over 500 policemen, senior police officers and the entire government was present. “How did they get the courage to raise the slogan? We don’t know if they were terrorists,” he said.
MLA Sunil Kumar said that when Hussain’s followers were raising “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans, some people tried to stop them. “If it was just ‘Naseer Zindabad’, why would someone stop them,” he asked. He said the state government invites people like (UK professor) Nitasha Kaul, who is anti-India. “Since you have such an attitude and invite such persons, people like them dare to raise pro-Pakistan slogans,” he said.
He also hit out at RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge and some other ministers, saying they have concluded such slogans were not raised even before FSL gave its report.
Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda hit out at BJP, asking them to abandon fiction and speak the truth.
As the Bills were being passed amid the din, BJP members tore copies of the Bills and threw them toward the Speaker’s chair. The proceedings were adjourned twice as BJP members protested.
In the Council, BJP MLC N Ravi Kumar’s ‘anti-national’ government remark and Congress MLC Abdul Jabbar addressing him in singular sparked a heated exchange. Angered by Jabbar’s remarks, BJP MLCs rushed aggressively towards ruling party members. They were stopped by the marshals.
After Chairman Basavaraj Horatti’s intervention, Jabbar expressed regrets over his remarks.
Stern action if FSL report shows proof, says CM
CM Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said that stern action would be taken against anyone who raised a pro-Pakistan slogan, if the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) report proved that such a thing had occurred.