New Delhi: Legislators of the Aam Aadmi Party spent the night in the Punjab assembly on Monday, protesting the Amarinder Singh government’s decision not to share the draft Bill to counter the Centre’s new farm laws with them.
The Punjab assembly is holding a special session to counter the farm laws, but the government did not table the Bill on Monday, a move which was slammed by opposition parties.
The AAP MLAs sat in the well of the House until late evening on Monday, after which they moved to the gallery outside the assembly but confined themselves within the assembly complex building demanding copies of the Bill which the state’s Congress government is now expected to introduce on Tuesday.
In Punjab, details of the proposed Bills/agenda is not being shared with the elected representatives of opposition, forcing @AAPPunjab MLAs to sit on an overnight #dharna protest inside vidhansabha. This denial of right is murder of democracy by the @capt_amarinder ‘ s govt. pic.twitter.com/vspBs1HrPt
— Harchand Singh Barsat (@HarchandSBarsat) October 20, 2020
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Late in the night, Punjab leader of opposition and AAP leader Harpal Cheema told news agency PTI that the MLAs had decided to continue their dharna overnight because they were yet to get copies of the Bill and others that are to be tabled during the session.
“AAP will support the legislation against the farm laws but the government should have given us its copies. We haven’t got copies of other Bills as well. How can our legislators discuss and debate important issues?” Cheema said.
Notably, four years ago when Congress was in the opposition in Punjab, their party MLAs had spent the night in the assembly seeking a debate on the no-confidence motion against the ruling SAD-BJP combine, which was defeated by voice vote, and had refused to vacate the house until the government gave an assurance that a discussion will be allowed on it.
Earlier, finance and acting parliamentary affairs minister Manpreet Singh Badal said the state government is consulting constitutional experts on the issue of legislation to counter the new farm laws and added copies of various Bills to be tabled during the two-day session will be given to the opposition parties by the evening.
According to NDTV, the Shiromani Akali Dal, which exited the National Democratic Alliance over the farm laws, said the Bill should have been introduced in the assembly on Monday.
The party’s MLAs rode on tractors to reach the vidhan sabha in protest against the farm laws. They tore copies of the Centre’s farm laws.
A delegation of party leaders met speaker Rana K.P. Singh on Monday evening and objected to not getting copies of the Bills to be tabled in the assembly. The SAD leaders termed it a “murder of democracy”.
The two-day special assembly session began with obituary references as chief minister Amarinder Singh led the house in paying homage to the farmers who lost their lives during the ongoing agitation against the farm laws.
The House was adjourned for an hour by speaker Singh after the assembly took up obituary references. The House reassembled for nearly 15 minutes before being adjourned till Tuesday.
Amritsar East MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu attended the assembly session for the first time since his resignation from the state cabinet last year.
AAP MLAs staged a protest outside the assembly complex wearing black capes as they tore and burnt copies of the farm laws.
Referring to the legislation which the Amarinder Singh government wants to bring, SAD member Gurpratap Singh Wadala said it seems the state government “does not have clarity” over the issue.
The main Bill against the Centre’s farm laws should have been tabled first and discussed in the house, he said. “Entire Punjab is watching what the government is doing. The legislation to counter the Centre’s farm laws should have been the first business of the house,” said the SAD leader.
