Shoe hurled at Majithia on last day of Punjab Assembly session

Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal had to adjourn the House five minutes into the proceedings after opposition Congress MLAs thronged the Well of the House, demanding a discussion on the no-confidence motion moved by the party against the ruling SAD-BJP government in the state.

After the House resumed after about 15 minutes, former leader of opposition and senior Congress leader Sunil Jakhar said he was expecting the Speaker to resolve the issue by calling the Leader of the House and the Leader of Opposition. “But, you (Speaker) have denigrated the post by taking orders from Sukhbir Badal. You did not want a debate,” he alleged.

The Speaker then told Jakhar that he was “insulting” the chair and asked the opposition members to go back to their seats. “I know my duty and I want to run the House,” he said. Several Congress MLAs spent two consecutive nights in the House, sticking to their demand for a debate on the no-confidence motion which was defeated by a voice vote on Monday.

The Speaker said as he came to know that the Congress MLAs were staying put at the House, he made arrangements for the lights to be switched on there. At this, the Congress MLAs again thronged the Well, demanding a debate on the no-confidence motion. The Speaker said the House had already rejected it.

“I am sorry to say, you have wasted the time of the House. Therefore, I suspend Question Hour, Zero Hour and two calling attention notices,” he said and proceeded to take up the bills to get them passed. At this juncture, the Congress MLAs started throwing papers towards the Speaker’s chair. 

Around 10 members of the Assembly’s watch-and-ward staff cordoned off the Speaker as the Congress MLAs, including Amarinder Raja Warring, Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Sukhjinder Randhawa, hurled papers and CAG books towards his chair.

Amid the din and under protection from the watch-and-ward staff, the Speaker started taking up the bills one-by-one. He asked some ministers, including Tota Singh and Parminder Singh Dhindsa, to present their bills.

Amid the ruckus, a shoe was hurled from the Opposition benches which fell just short of where state Minister Bikram Singh Majithia was sitting. Majithia picked up the shoe which was hurled towards the ruling benches and showed it to the opposition members.

Several of the ruling combine members, including Virsa Singh Valtoha and Madan Mohan Mittal, took objection to the incident. Immediately thereafter, the watch-and-ward staff lined up in front of the ruling benches. State Minister Anil Joshi, who had stood up to present a bill, said, “It is shameful that the opposition members are now hurling shoes at us.” The chaos unfolded in the presence of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. A heated exchange ensued between the ruling combine and the opposition members.

Congress MLAs Tarlochan Singh Soondh and Sadhu Singh Dharamsot stood up on the benches and started raising slogans against the SAD-BJP government. Throughout the chaos, Independent MLAs Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Bains kept sitting in the Well, demanding a private resolution on the water issue.

After the bills were passed, the Speaker adjourned the House sine die at 11:33 am. Later, a bare-footed Soondh said that it was him who had hurled the shoe towards SAD MLA Valtoha, accusing the latter of “insulting” him in the name of his caste. “I threw a shoe towards Valtoha who insulted me in the name of my caste. I do not know if it hit someone or not. He used abusive words regarding my caste. If anyone provokes me and uses such language, I will not tolerate it,” said the MLA. 

Lokhit Abhiyaan leader and former Congress MP Jagmeet Singh Brar on Wednesday ridiculed the dharna by Congress MLAs inside the Punjab Vidhan Sabha describing it as a stage managed "drama" by the party and the ruling Akalis designed to stall House proceedings.