Uproar in MP assembly over Bajrang Dal issue

BHOPAL, FEBRUARY 16: Opposition BJP members on Wednesday raised slogans and created a furore in Madhya Pradesh assembly demanding that an ...

BHOPAL, FEBRUARY 16: Opposition BJP members on Wednesday raised slogans and created a furore in Madhya Pradesh assembly demanding that an adjournment motion on the arrest of BJP, Bajrang Dal and RSS workers all over the state in connection with the Dal8217;s national convention here from February 18, be taken up for discussion immediately.

BJP members were angry after the speaker Sriniwas Tiwari rejected the opposition demand and marched into the well of the house, where they shouted slogans against the state government and the Chief Minister Digvijay Singh.

Following the uproar, the speaker first adjourned the house for 10 minutes and later till the lunch break when there was still an hour to go for it.

Raising the matter during zero hour, Narendra Birthare, Munshilal, Anup Mishra and others of BJP, said an undeclared emergency appeared to be in force in the state following the state government8217;s alleged denial of permission to Bajrang Dal to hold its three-day national convention here from February 18.

They claimed that the police was rounding up not only workers belonging to Bajrang Dal, the RSS and the BJP but was not sparing even sadhus and pujaris. They criticised these arrests on the ground that none of these three organisations was outlawed.

BJP members said they had received information about workers of these organisations being arrested all over the state including Gwalior, Dhar, Rajgarh, Ujjain, Jabalpur and Ratlam.

They said the government must inform the house the law under which these workers were being arrested on such a large scale.

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According to them, the Bajrang Dal convention was for discussing the issue of terrorism and the activities of ISI and added that the state government had imposed an unannounced ban on such a patriotic8217; organisation.

When the opposition was raising this issue, the chief minister was not in the house but he came when the house was adjourned for 10 minutes.

During this period also when BJP members continued to shout slogans, he asked them to clarify the relationship between the BJP and the Bajrang Dal.

Singh said if state level leaders of BJP disclose their links with Bajrang Dal, he would be in position to tell the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee about the difference between the latter8217;s views and those of his party leaders in Madhya Pradesh.

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The leader of the opposition, Dr Gauri Shanker Shejwar said that on the one hand, the government was trying to prevent Bajrang Dal from holding its national convention in Bhopal and on the other was glorifying people like Ashgar Ali engineer who had praised Mohammed Ghori and Mehmood Ghazanvi in the presence of minister, Airf Aqeel and the state director-general of police, S C Tripathi.