Monsoon session of Bihar Assembly to begin on Monday

Patna: The monsoon session of the Bihar Assembly, which will begin on Monday, is likely to witness noisy scenes as the ruckus during the last meeting of the House over a special armed police bill may cast a shadow on the upcoming proceedings.

Unprecedented chaos erupted on March 23 in the last budget session when police was called inside the Assembly to assist the marshals in evicting unruly opposition members who tried to

physically prevent Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha from taking his chair.

The bone of contention was Bihar Special Armed Police Bill, 2021, which the Nitish Kumar government had introduced in a bid to give its police more teeth, deemed necessary in view of the increasingly complex security needs of the state which has been witnessing rapid economic growth.

The opposition had termed it as "black" legislation, taking strong exception to provisions that empower the Special Armed Police, previously known as the Bihar Military Police, to conduct searches and arrests without producing a warrant.

The Bill was passed by the Assembly, amid a "walkout" by opposition MLAs who had squatted outside the building and raised slogans, slighted by the manner in which they were ousted from the hall on that day by the men in uniform.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has already written to the Speaker, saying that opposition legislators were scared to enter the House due to the March 23 incident.

Our MLAs are now afraid of entering the House and raising questions there...let us know the result of the investigation on the March 23 incident.

That was a black day which will never be forgotten," Yadav wrote in his letter.

Whether in the Assembly or on the road, anyone who asks questions related to the public interest is being thrashed by this government headed by Nitish Kumar," he said.