The Hindu : National : Din in Punjab House over media coverage

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 20, 2004

National

National

Din in Punjab House over media coverage

By Our Staff Correspondent

CHANDIGARH, JUNE 19. The Punjab Assembly today passed a resolution condemning the behaviour of the Opposition members belonging to the Akali Dal and the BJP in obstructing the proceedings of the House and raising slogans against the Speaker during Zero Hour.

The problem arose when the Opposition members objected to the permission granted by the Speaker, Kewal Krishan, to television channels to cover the speech of the Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh, who was scheduled to conclude the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's Address. They demanded that equal opportunity be granted to the Opposition.

When Dr. Krishan ruled that there was no provision for media coverage of the speech of the Leader of the Opposition, and promised to refer the request to the General Purposes Committee of the House, the Akali and BJP legislators staged a noisy walk-out, during which some of them raised slogans against the Speaker.

Unlike on other occasions, Dr. Krishan ordered that the slogans raised by the Opposition members be recorded. Later, the PWD Minister, Partap Singh Bajwa, moved a resolution condemning the action of the Opposition members, whom he accused of damaging the sanctity, discipline and decorum of the House. For this, he demanded the suspension of the Opposition members for the remainder of the day. However, the Deputy Speaker, Bir Devinder Singh, who took the Chair by then, made repeated appeals to both sides to avoid precipitating the issue.

Capt. Amarinder Singh said the Opposition was trying to hog media attention through negative tactics. He accused Mr. Badal of having a bloated ego and sought an apology from him for the behaviour of the Opposition members. Both sides remained inflexible for a while.

Later, the Speaker decided against the suspension of the members, and the treasury benches mooted an amendment in their resolution. Led by the Chief Minister, at the fag end of the proceedings, the House condemned the Opposition members' behaviour and advised them against repeating it. However, the Opposition members were not present when the resolution was passed as they had once again walked out when the camera crews of various TV channels entered the House to cover the speech of the Chief Minister.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National