Ruckus in Assam assembly as BJP, oppn engage in war of words

Guwahati: The Assam assembly witnessed a ruckus on Wednesday as the ruling BJP and the opposition engaged in a war of words over the use of two controversial terms, leading to the adjournment of the House for a brief period.

Baghbor MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed, who has been suspended by the Congress, raised an issue related to the sub-divisional agricultural office of Alopati in the Barpeta district during Question Hour.

While discussing the issue, he equated the "misleading replies" given by the officials to a particular word.

The word was expunged by Speaker Biswajit Daimary after BJP MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi objected to it.

After the Question Hour concluded, Kurmi again raised the issue and asked if Ahmed had said it as he belonged to a particular community.

While mentioning the community, the BJP MLA uttered a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in the state.

This led to a strong protest from the entire opposition with MLAs of the Congress, AIUDF, CPI(M) and Raijor Dal demanding an apology from Kurmi.

The speaker immediately expunged the word, but it failed to pacify the opposition MLAs.

Daimary then adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

As soon as the House reassembled, Ahmed again raised the word stated by Kurmi and demanded an apology from him.

"It's a racial word. How can an MLA use such a word to target an entire community? This should be reprimanded," Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia of the Congress said.

As opposition benches continued to protest, Deputy Speaker Numal Momin expunged all mentions of the two words, which finally brought the House to order.