New Delhi: A Gujarat MLA wearing a T-shirt was evicted from the Assembly on Monday, March 15, on the orders of the speaker for not following the proper dress code and not maintaining the ‘decorum’ of the House.
When speaker Rajendra Trivedi asked the Congress MLA Vimal Chudasama to leave the House and come back with proper clothing, he objected, stating that there was no such dress code and refused to leave the House. Trivedi then ordered marshals to evict Chudasama, leaving the house in pandemonium.
While the ruling BJP members demanded that Chudasama be suspended for three days for arguing with the speaker and turning up for assembly proceedings in improper clothing, Congress members insisted that there was no such rule prohibiting members from wearing specific clothing during House proceedings.
Chudasama (40) is a first-time MLA, and represents the Somnath assembly segment. His black T-shirt incidentally has “Free Spirit” written against printed material in blue. In fact, he turned up in similar attire the previous week prompting speaker Trivedi to instruct him not to come to the House with such clothing from the next week. The speaker back then had said that to maintain the decorum of the House members should wear either a kurta or a shirt.
With Chudasama turning up again in a T-shirt, the speaker reminded him of his earlier instruction and asked him to come back to the House wearing shirt, or kurta, or a blazer.
Chudasama objected to this and said that he had campaigned wearing the same outfit and won the assembly poll.
“I sought votes wearing a T-shirt. This T-shirt is a certificate given to me by my voters. You are disrespecting my voters,” he told the speaker, as quoted by NDTV.
But, Trivedi insisted that a T-shirt was not the right kind of attire for Assembly proceedings and wanted him to come back with proper clothing.
“I don’t want to know how you approached your voters. You are disrespecting Speaker’s order. You can’t come to the House wearing whatever you want just because you are an MLA. This is not a playground. There are protocols to follow,” Trivedi retorted.
As per the instructions of the speaker, four sergeants escorted Chudasama out of the House without using force.
After Chudasama left the House, minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja moved a proposal to expel Chudasama for three days for “arguing with the Speaker”. However, chief minister Vijay Rupani withdrew the proposal and appealed to Congress leaders to convince Chudasama to follow the dress code.
The chief minister then recalled that his minister Jayesh Radadiya used to wear a T-shirt to the House, but changed and came back in Kurta when the speaker had pointed out.
“T-shirt doesn’t look good inside the House. I urge Congress leaders to convince Chudasama,” Rupani said.
However, Congress leaders reiterated that there was no such code in the House and they were free to choose their attire.
“The MLAs must have the freedom to choose their attire. Nowhere it is written that MLAs can’t wear T-shirts. This is a violation of constitutional rights,” leader of the opposition Paresh Dhanan said.
(With PTI inputs)