A BJP MLA, who brought a cow to Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, on Monday, to push his demand to declare Lump Skin Disease in cattle as a state calamity on the first day of the session, was left in despair as the animal got furious in front of TV media reporters, freed herself of the rope and ran away on the road.
Fortunately, no vehicle or pedestrian was hit by the rampaging bovine carrying a poster pasted on her stomach: Go Mata Ki Suno Chitkar, Ab Jago Rajasthan Sarkar (Listen to Cow’s cry, let’s wake up Rajasthan Government).
As Pushkar assembly constituency MLA Suresh Singh Rawat was about to enter the assembly building with the cow, panicked security and intelligence cops tried to close the door. While the MLA was giving a byte to electronic media, the cow fled the scene. A man who probably was its owner holding the rope could not run fast enough to reach out to the cow.
As the session began at 1100 hrs, the House witnessed seven minutes of pandemonium as the entire Opposition MLAs of BJP and RLP rushed to the well shouting slogans and displaying placards: Go Mata Ki Pukar, Hume Bachalo Sarkar (Cow is crying, Save us government).
The protest led by the Leader of Opposition G C Kataria blamed the Speaker Dr CP Joshi for not allowing the MLAs to raise questions and the last session of the assembly was not adjourned sine die and the Governor’s power of declaring the session as prorogue was breached.
The last budget session was adjourned on March 28 after passing the fiscal budget 2022-23, and after a long gap of about six months, the session was continued today to avoid the Raj Bhawan’s involvement.
Amidst uproar in the House, the Speaker adjourned the proceedings twice for 15 minutes and five minutes to restore the peace but the Opposition members did not return to their seats. He immediately took up a few business of tabling two bills and reading some notifications received from the Governor. The house was finally adjourned for the day after passing an obituary reference to six parliamentarians and former assembly members.
Reacting to Opposition’s allegations for not adjourning the house sine die and allowing Question Hour, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said, “We have deliberately continued the assembly.”
Gehlot, who had faced the Governor’s critical role when the BJP tried to topple his government by horse trading, categorically said, “If their (BJP) intentions go bad, then we have made them in such a condition that we will not let them go. If their will goes, then this government should be brought down. That’s why we did it intentionally.”
“They (the BJP) have created a new model of horse trading in the country. Governments are falling. Governments were toppled first in Arunachal, then in MP, Karnataka, Maharashtra. Tried in Jharkhand. Tried in many states. It was for the first time Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra had turned down our request to summon the session during the horse trading days in 2020,” he said.
“In a high-level all-party meet, Rajasthan has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to declare LSD as a national calamity, and provide the new vaccine. But the local BJP MLAs are not cooperating with us. They (BJP leaders) are just doing a play in the assembly to please their higher ups in Delhi”, Gehlot remarked.