GUWAHATI, Dec 21 (PTI): Independent MLA Akhil Gogoi was on Wednesday suspended from Assam Assembly for the second day in a row, after he refused to apologise to border area development minister Atul Bora following a verbal duel between the two.
During the Question Hour, Gogoi alleged discrepancies in data related to Assam land encroached by neighbouring states, to which Bora was replying.
When the minister was giving his response, Gogoi interrupted him and alleged that wrong information was being provided.
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This led to a heated exchange of words between Bora and Gogoi with both pointing fingers at each other from their respective seats.
While Bora mainly objected to the interruption, Gogoi stuck to his stand that the minister was providing wrong information.
At one point, Gogoi shouted “Oi” (saying ‘hey’ derogatorily). This led to a sharp reaction from the treasury benches with all ruling alliance members standing and yelling at the opposition leader.
“Akhil Gogoi, you cannot say this. You apologise (to Bora),” Speaker Biswajit Daimary said.
When Gogoi refused to apologise, the Speaker suspended him for the entire day and asked the Marshals to take him out of the House.
As the MLA continued to sit, Marshals lifted him and took him outside.
Members of the ruling coalition, however, demanded that the Speaker suspend Gogoi for the entire duration of the Winter Session, which will end on December 24.
Reacting to the entire episode, the Speaker said that members are not following norms.
“No one can threaten anyone. I asked him (Gogoi) to apologise, but he did not listen. I can’t stop the House from functioning for one person. If rules are not followed, the Speaker can terminate his membership by uttering just one word,” Daimary said.
He stressed that members can protest, but it has to be within the law.
On Monday too, Gogoi was suspended for Question Hour after he did not accept the Speaker’s instruction to sit down during a discussion on crime against women as he was “giving a speech” instead of asking the supplementary question.
“The PM had said he would make Assam number one. The CM also said so. Is this the number one that we aspired to be? The law and order of the state is a total failure,” Gogoi had said.
