Uproar in House on BJP MLA’s remark

Uproar over BJP legislator O.P. Sharma’s derogatory remarks against his AAP counterpart Alka Lamba led to Mr Sharma’s suspension from the Delhi Assembly for two days and obstructed the proceedings of the House.

Enraged by Mr Sharma’s comments, Ms Lamba along with other AAP legislators tried to slap the BJP MLA, but could not. AAP women MLAs demanding Mr Sharma’s suspension from the House for the entire Winter Session protested in the well of the House and due to the ruckus, the Assembly session had to be adjourned twice.

The AAP legislators also demanded an apology from Mr Sharma and the BJP, threatening to boycott the House. Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal expressed shock over Mr Sharma’s comments and hoped that the BJP would take action against its legislator. “Am shocked at language used by O.P. Sharma, BJP MLA, against a lady lawmaker. 2 days back also, he abused a lady MLA. Hope BJP will act against him,” he tweeted.

The House was rocked by the incident when the Leader of Opposition Vijender Gupta raised the pathetic situation of the night shelters in the national capital. While he was elaborating on the number of deaths of the homeless, Ms Lamba interrupted, saying that these deaths were not because of cold weather but due to drug abuse. Ms Lamba’s comment was strongly opposed by the BJP legislators, which led to an argument between the AAP and the BJP MLAs. Amid this, Mr Sharma made a personal remark about Ms Lamba, which could not be heard but was later criticised by the Speaker as “offensive.” Mr Goel quoted Mr Sharma as having termed Ms Lamba “a woman who roams in the night.”

Terming the remark “shameful in the history of the country,” the Speaker suspended Mr Sharma for two days from the Assembly, which was protested by Mr Gupta. The AAP-dominated House broke into chaos as the legislators went to the Speaker’s chair and shouted slogans demanding Mr Sharma’s expulsion. Amid this, Ms Lamba along with other AAP legislators tried to slap Mr Sharma. The Speaker did not succeed in ending the chaos even after asking Mr Gupta to send Mr Sharma out of the House for five minutes. Expressing disappointment over the events, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia then intervened and said that Mr Sharma should apologise.

Accepting Mr Sisodia’s proposal, Mr Gupta said both Mr Sharma and Ms Lamba should apologise to each other but the AAP MLAs did not agree and continued to create ruckus and entered the well of the House. Following this, the ruling party’s women MLAs, including Rakhi Bidlan, Bandana Kumari, Pramila Tokas, Bhawna Gaur and Alka Lamba, sat in protest in the well demanding Mr Sharma’s suspension from the House for the entire session. The Assembly Speaker adjourned the House till Friday.