Ludhiana violence resonates in Lok Sabha

The issue of violence in Ludhiana in Punjab over a congregation of a religious sect on Monday found echo in the Lok Sabha with members of Congress and Akali Dal clashing and forcing adjournment of the House early for lunch recess.

The issue of violence in Ludhiana in Punjab over a congregation of a religious sect on Monday found echo in the Lok Sabha with members of Congress and Akali Dal clashing and forcing adjournment of the House early for lunch recess.

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Congress member Manish Tewari raised the issue during Zero Hour, asking the Centre to be vigilant in view of recurring incidents of such types in the state where peace returned recently after years of terrorism.

Ludhiana witnessed large scale violence on Saturday after protests over congregation of a Sikh sect headed by Ashutosh Maharaj and authorities had to impose curfew there.

Noting that he did not want to conduct a "post-mortem" of the events, Tewari said the incidents were "unfortunate".

As he spoke, Akali members were on their feet, objecting to his raising the issue. Congress members joined Tewari, resulting in a clash.

"I am not casting aspersions on anybody. All that I want to say is that since 2007, there has been incident after incident of such nature," Tewari said.

"My only intention is to caution the House and the Centre. This relates to peace and stability of Punjab," he said, pointing out that normalcy had returned to the state recently after years of troubles.

He said if the Centre is not vigilant, it could lead to difficulties in the sensitive border state.

Amid ruckus, Speaker Meira Kumar adjourned the House early for lunch break.