New Delhi: Chaos erupted in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Saturday after Speaker P Dhanapal refused to allow a secret ballot in the trust vote and said that voting would be conducted via voice vote. DMK, the main Opposition party in the assembly, demanded a secret ballot and protested in the house by gheraoing the speaker. Soon, chairs and microphones in the house were broken and the speaker had to be marshalled away to safety.
Chaos and violence, however, are not new phenomenon in India’s Legislative Assemblies. Below is a list of a long history of ruckus inside the assembly
Tamil Nadu, 1988:
After the death of AIADMK stalwart MG Ramachandran, a political tug-of-war ensued between J Jayalalithaa and Janaki Ramachandran. Janaki, who was just sworn in Chief Minister, was asked to prove her majority on the floor of the house. Five Congress MLAs rebelled against their party line when they learnt that Rajiv Gandhi had opposed the motion and that led to violence in the assembly. The violence went on for an hour till the police were called in to lathicharge MLAs. Over a 100 microphones were broken and 20 legislators were injured.
Tamil Nadu, 1989:
A year later, violence returned to the assembly when the DMK was in power. During Karunanidhi’s budget speech, a Congress MLA got up to claim that Jayalalithaa was being harassed by the police. Jayalalithaa, the leader of Opposition at this point, substantiated the MLAs claims and violence began even before Karunanidhi could respond. The situation soon worsened as Karunanidhi’s sunglasses were broken in the chaos and an MLA even tried to disrobe Jayalalithaa. The image of Jayalalitha holding up her torn sari became iconic and helped shift public sympathy in the AIADMK’s favour during the 1991 elections.
Uttar Pradesh, 1997:
In September 1997, Kalyan Singh of the BJP was sworn in as Chief Minister for the second time after support from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). By November, however, the BSP withdrew support and Singh was asked to prove his majority on the floor of the assembly. While Kalyan Singh survived the trust vote, the incident became infamous for the violence that preceded it. Pramod Tiwari, the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader, demanded a lobby division of votes and that led to an ugly brawl in the house. A group of angry BSP MLAs hurled a small loudspeaker at the speaker and soon, MLAs were throwing microphones, glass, paperweights and chairs at each other. Several legislators were injured in the fighting.
Jammu & Kashmir, 2015:
Engineer Rashid, Awami Itihad Party MLA, was in the news after he organized a ‘beef party’ to protest against a proposed bill to ban the sale of beef in the state. On October 8, 2015, Rashid was attacked on the floor of the house by a BJP MLAs.
Tripura, 2016:
The Tripura assembly erupted in chaos in December after allegations were raised against Forest Minister Naresh Jamatiya. Opposition MLAs stormed the well, shouted slogans and demanded a statement from Chief Minister Manik Sarkar. Trinamool Congress MLA Sudip Roy Burman then approached the speaker’s desk, took the speaker’s mace and fled the house with it. Soon, however, he returned the mace when the house was adjourned.
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