Himachal Assembly Session-Day 1: Congress stages walkout, alleges ‘move’ to allow ‘outsiders’ to buy land in state

The House witnessed noisy scenes as the Speaker ordered “nothing to be recorded”. The Congress MLAs, already on their feet, finally staged a walkout while warning against any attempt to tinker with the section 188.

Virbhadra Singh along with other Congress leaders walk out of the Vidhan Sabha Tuesday. Pradeep Kumar

In a stormy start, Opposition Congress Tuesday staged a walkout from the Assembly on the opening day of its month-long budget session, questioning the state’s BJP government move to make changes in section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act 1972, which relates to land transfers to “outsiders (non-Himachalis)” and non-agriculturists. The walk-out came even before Speaker Dr Rajeev Bindal rejected an adjournment motion,which Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Mukesh Agnihotri and two others had tabled seeking discussion on the issue by suspending the day’s business.

Immediately after obituary references, Agnihotri asked the Speaker about fate of the motion, saying it was based on statements made by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur who had spoken about changes in section 118.

The Speaker tried to pacify the CLP leader saying he had referred the motion to the government for seeking relevant information and that the member should not press for it at this stage. But this did not stop an enraged Agnihotri from attacking the BJP government and accusing it of intentions to allow outsiders and land mafia to grab land in the state, which otherwise are safeguarded by the section 118 enacted during the rule of the state’s first CM Dr Y S Parmar in 1972.

“What is the real urgency behind this move as the government has not even completed its first 60 to 65 days. There seems to be a design to oblige certain people, big business giants and some non-Himachali officers,” he alleged.

Soon, Congress MLAs started raising slogans and tried to troop closer to the front benches. The protests were countered by the ruling benches, including ministers Bikram Thakur and Vipin Singh Parmar, who accused Agnihotri of raising the issue only to score headlines.

The House witnessed noisy scenes as the Speaker ordered “nothing to be recorded”. The Congress MLAs, already on their feet, finally staged a walkout while warning against any attempt to tinker with the section 188.

Education Minister Suresh Bhardwaj, who is also the minister for parliamentary affairs, condemned the Congress action, saying they were raising a non-issue since the government had not done or proposed to do anything relating to the particular section.
After the walkout, the Speaker gave his ruling rejecting the Congress motion.

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