Haryana ex-CM Bhupinder Hooda seeks House panel probe into ‘manhandling’ of Congress MLAs

Raising the issue of “manhandling” by the Vidhan Sabha staff and security personnel at the gates of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda today pushed for a House committee to look into the matter.

The demand was turned down by Speaker Harvinder Kalyan, who reiterated that the staff was only discharging its duty by not allowing placards beyond the entry gate.

Speaking on the issue soon after proceedings began on the second day of the monsoon session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, Hooda said he was yet to get answers on whose orders the MLAs had been pushed around and why placards were not allowed beyond the gate when MPs were allowed to hold protests at the main entrance of Parliament.

Hooda also said Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini had used unparliamentary language by stating that Congressmen were doing “goondagardi (hooliganism)”.

The Chief Minister said the remarks should be seen in the context of the complete proceedings. Opposition members, he said, had repeatedly raised slogans of “Goondagardi nahi chaleygi” in the House.

The sloganeering continued even after the Speaker offered the members an opportunity to view the relevant video in his chamber.

Saini said his response was confined to stating that the “hooliganism” was not from his side but from theirs.

Saini added that his remarks contained nothing unparliamentary, while Congress MLA BB Batra challenged this and read out rules to prove that the words were “unparliamentary”.

The Speaker, appealing to both sides to maintain the decorum of the House, suggested that since both sides had used the word “hooliganism”, it should be dropped from the proceedings and replaced by “utpath (mischief)”.

He further clarified that at the security meeting held prior to the session, it had been decided that the precincts of the Vidhan Sabha began at the entry point and no protests or placards would be allowed beyond that point.

Taking a dig at Hooda, Minister Vipul Goyal said Hooda had elbowed a security personnel and entered the gate. An agitated Hooda said he would show in videos how many times he was hit. “Also, if I did elbow a security personnel, register an FIR against me,” Hooda dared the treasury benches, even as he demanded that the videos of the clash be seen to ascertain who was in the wrong.