In a dramatic turn of events, 12 Congress MLAs in Odisha spent the entire night inside the state assembly after being suspended from the House on Tuesday, March 25. Their decision to stay overnight came as a mark of protest against their suspension.
While the Congress legislators remained inside the assembly, party workers staged a protest outside. Youth Congress members sat on a dharna. Eventually, the police had to intervene and detain several party workers. The overnight protest led to a tense situation in and around the assembly.
The suspended MLAs were later removed from the premises, after which they continued to stage their protest and slept on the street outside the assembly in Bhubaneswar.
They also alleged that they were beaten up by the marshalls while being evicted from the Vidhan Soudha (assembly).
The Odisha Assembly has been thrown into chaos this session with the Opposition MLAs from Congress and BJD staging protests on various issues, such as crimes against women, OBC reservation in jobs, caste census, etc. The constant protests have put the Odisha assembly in legislative paralysis.
The Congress on Tuesday again demanded the formation of a committee to investigate crimes against women during the eight-month tenure of the BJP government. When their demand was ignored, the legislators intensified their protest, ringing bells, singing 'Ram Dhun, ' and disrupting proceedings with whistles, flutes, and cymbals.
The protest led to such chaos that Speaker Surjya Narayan Patro had to suspend the proceedings 14 times throughout the day. While Congress MLAs continued their 'musical protest, ' BJD legislators also created a stir by demanding reservations for ST, SC, and OBC communities in education and employment.
Eventually, Speaker Surama Padhy took strict action, suspending 12 Congress MLAs for seven days.
The suspended Congress MLAs included prominent leaders such as Sagar Charan Das, Mangu Khila, Ashok Kumar Das, Satyajit Gomango, Dasharathi Gomango, and Sofia Firdaus. Senior Congress leaders Tara Prasad Bahinipati and Ramesh Jena were absent during the chaos, allowing them to avoid the suspension.
Despite this, they joined the overnight protest inside the assembly.
Speaking on the matter, Bahinipati stated, "We have decided to continue our protest and demand the formation of the committee. If the government wants, they can remove us using marshals or police, but we will not back down."
