The Haryana Legislative Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta on Monday revoked Congress MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian's suspension after he expressed regret over tearing a copy of the anti-conversion bill on Friday (March 4) for which he was suspended from the ongoing budget session. The Speaker revoked Kadian's suspension after examining video footage of Friday's proceedings and verifying that the latter committed the act on a "sudden provocation" after Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had spoken in the House. Soon after the Question Hour concluded on Monday, Opposition leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda raised the issue of Kadian's suspension with the speaker and called it an “unprecedented” and “undemocratic” move. “What transpired such a decision? You have been a lawyer, I have also been a civil disputes lawyer. There are many other lawyers here. Everybody knows the law. We have seen how sudden provocation leads to even murders in courts. Yet, people get acquitted on the ground of “sudden provocation”. I want to say that how come it was not seen that the chief minister's words had provoked Kadian and led to the act that he committed?”, Hooda said while seeking revocation of Kadian's suspension. "I will show you the mirror", Speaker Gupta replied to Hooda and read several such orders pronounced by the previous speaker (during Congress regime) wherein several members were suspended from the House. Hooda, meanwhile, said that although he was not defending what Kadian had done, he was urging that the circumstances that led him to commit such an act should be "duly considered". On Friday, introducing the Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill, commonly known as anti-conversion bill, Khattar said that it was not targeting any particular religion or faith. Pointing to the Opposition legislators, he also said they may convert to another religion if they wanted. Khattar’s remark was strongly opposed by the Congress members and Kadian tore the copy of the Bill, prompting the Speaker to suspend him. Subsequently, Khattar withdrew his remarks and expressed regrets over them. Hooda welcomed Khattar's gesture. “It was graceful on part of the leader of the House that he withdrew his remarks. But I’m talking about the sudden provocation. Why did he (Kadian) do what he did? Because he got provoked by such remarks (by Khattar)." As Hooda insisted that the Speaker digs out the March 4 sitting's video recording to find out under what circumstances Kadian had torn the Bill's copy, Khattar intervened and said that it was done after he had spoken. "But, if he had torn the copy of the Bill after I had made those remarks, I would again express my regrets. I would request the Speaker to play the video in his chamber. If the Bill was torn after my words, I would again apologise to the House and also introduce a proposal to bring him (Kadian) back and revoke his suspension”. "In a democracy maintaining the dignity and decorum of the House is the utmost duty of every MLA. A Bill or any other document presented in the House is a legal document and tearing the same is an insult to the House, he added", Khattar said. As Hooda refused to budge, the Speaker adjourned the House for 20 minutes. The video of March 4 was played in his chamber and it was found that Kadian had torn the copy of the Bill after Khattar's remarks. When the House's proceedings resumed, Speaker Gupta, urged by both Hooda and Khattar to revoke Kadian's suspension, said: “If Kadian is willing to come back and express regret over his action and if the House accepts it, his suspension shall be revoked. A message should also be sent to the security staff to allow him (Kadian) to enter the assembly hall." Later, Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Kanwar Pal presented a motion for revoking the decision to suspend Kadian from the session. All the members collectively said "yes" to the motion following which the Speaker revoked the suspension. After this, Kadian returned to the House and expressed his regret over tearing the copy of the Bill.
