The Opposition Congress once again staged a walkout in the Rajasthan assembly on Monday expressing dissatisfaction with the reply by Minister of State for Home Jawahar Singh Bedam in a case of rape and murder of a class 8th girl of Bikaner district three days ago.
The MoS assured that the police have been working sincerely on the case and soon the culprits would be sent behind the bars. However, his assurance failed to convince the Opposition members who walked out demanding immediate arrest of culprits.
Even Speaker Vasudev Devnani took serious exception to the walkout by the Opposition and warned them against taking a dual stance. “This is not an appropriate way to demand a reply from the government, you are the members of the House, be in your seats to get an answer, why stage the walkout. I shall not tolerate this,” he said.
The issue figured in the House during Zero Hour on a call attention from Dungar Ram Gedher (Congress) about incident of rape and murder of 8th class student of Ranjitpur village in Kolayat region of Bikaner district 3 days back.
MoS Home Bedam detailed the police investigation in the case and assured that guilty would soon be behind the bars. The Minister’s reply evokes dissent and uproar in the House.
Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Tika Ram Jully said “Two days have passed, today it is the third day, when the culprits would be arrested”.
Bedam said, “The LoP should not indulge in politics over this issue” fueling a verbal duel and a spell of heated exchanges that culminated in the walkout. However, uproar and potshots against the Opposition members continued in treasury benches even after the walk-out. Unhappy over the behaviour of members in the treasury benches, Speaker Devnani angrily said, “I have already warned them, then why are you making a noise. At least members in Treasury Benches should observe self restraint, and the opposition too should co-operate”.
Besides this issue, the House today witnessed uproar and ruckus intermittently on many occasions in Question Hour and Zero Hour.
Outside the assembly too, in a chat with the media, Bedam criticised the Congress leadership in the state for escaping from debate – discussion in the House and talking to media outside. He said even former chief minister Ashok Gehlot who came to attend the House during his stay in the House, did not utter a word and then made a statement before the media outside.
The Minister said, “Senior and experienced three timer ex-Chief Minister while making reference on issue of 2-year Vs 5-year debate used indecent word like Murkhta (folly) for us, that was not befitting to the decorum attached to his status”
He also alleged that the Congress High command have also conveyed displeasure to the party state leadership for the MLAs overall performance in the state assembly, particularly for boycotting the discussion on 2-year Vs 5-year debate on development.