Uproar in Haryana assembly after introduction of anti-conversion bill

Speaker Gian Chand Gupta places Congress MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian under suspension for remaining part of the budget session for tearing a copy of the bill in the House

Haryana assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta on Friday debarred Congress MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian from attending the remaining sittings of the ongoing budget session after the senior Congress leader allegedly tore a copy of the anti-conversion bill to pieces and refused to apologise.

Congress members staged a walkout in protest against MLA Raghuvir Singh Kadian’s suspension (HT File)

According to speaker Gupta, the former speaker Kadian, who is a six-term MLA, “insulted” and violated the “dignity” of the House by tearing up the copy of the Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Bill-2022 within minutes after it was introduced in the assembly on Friday amid Congress questioning the rationale behind the bill.

The bill will be taken up for discussion and voting in one of the next sittings.

The din began prevailing in the House as Haryana home minister Anil Vij introduced the bill that seeks to prohibit religious conversions through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means by making it an offence.

Even though Vij was in the middle of introducing the bill, the Beri segment MLA opened the Congress’ attack, questioning the urgency behind bringing in the bill and demanding that select committee should first study it.

Kadian spearheaded the Congress attack in the absence of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

“You are erecting a wall between Ram and Rahim,” said Kadian, accusing the ruling BJP-JJP coalition government of pursuing “divisive policies”.

His sharp attack set the stage for what turned out to be a fierce verbal duel between the Congress and the ruling party leaders.

As the ruckus prevailed in the House, Vij argued that the bill does not refer to any religion. The Congress, however, intensified its offensive.

At this, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar interjected to allay the concerns of the Congress. But in the heat of his counter offensive, Khattar asked the Congress leaders that they are free to convert into other religion.

The Congress leaders took strong exception to Khattar’s “you can alter your religion” remark. Though Khattar regretted and withdrew his remarks, the Congress MLAs trooped into the well of the House. It was around this time that Congress MLA Kadian tore up a copy of the bill.

The speaker accused Kadian of violating the decorum of the House and “insulting” it. He kept asking Kadian to tender an apology, but the Congress leader refused to do so and dug in his heels.

The speaker said the bill was a legal document as it had been introduced in the House, but Kadian referred to the bill as a “printed piece of paper”.

Congress resorted to sloganeering and the visibly upset speaker kept telling Kadian that his conduct was against the decorum of the House.

At this, Vij said to the speaker: “He (Kadian) has been continuously disobeying you, please pronounce your decision.”

And Kadian attempted to mollify the speaker by saying: “I respect your sentiments.”

Again, the speaker asked Kadian to tender an apology, but the veteran Congress leader didn’t relent and again used some strong words against a minister.

The speaker then summoned the Vidhan Sabha marshals and later the watch and ward staff. A resolution was moved to suspend Kadian from remaining duration of the current budget session for his “misconduct”.

The Congress staged a noisy walk out from the House along with Kadian and boycotted the proceedings.

When the House reassembled for a second sitting in the afternoon after the lunch break, the Congress legislators urged the speaker to revoke Kadian’s suspension.

The speaker said Kadian should first regret what he said. The Congress MLA still didn’t offer an apology. The Congress MLAs stayed away from the second sitting and the logjam continued.