Tripura MLA runs away with Speaker’s mace, stalls House

FROM A CORRESPONDENT

AGARTALA, Dec 19: The Tripura Assembly on Monday witnessed a bizarre scene during the house proceedings as a TMC legislator ran away with the Speaker’s mace, stalling legislative business.

The incident occurred while the members were debating heatedly about the alleged “womanising” issue involving ruling CPI-M leaders.

The Congress and Trimool Congress (TMC) legislators had approached the Speaker’s podium and started sloganeering against Forests Minister resh Jamatia.

All of a sudden, TMC MLA Sudip Roy Barman seized the Speaker’s mace and ran away with it outside the house abruptly putting a halt to the proceedings.

The Watch-and-Ward staff, led by the Marshal, followed Barman and after half-a-minute brought the mace back, before Speaker Ramendra Chandra Debth went to his chamber.

“Barman raised a womanising issue during Zero Hour without any prior notice. Then the opposition members came to the well of the house and started shouting slogans.

“Suddenly, Barman ran out of the house with the mace. He should not have done it,” later the Speaker told reporters in his chamber.

When the house reassembled after the recess, Debth criticised the act saying “this is against parliamentary traditions, practice and procedure”.

Earlier, Barman, referring to media reports and an expelled Communist Party of India-Marxist leader’s allegation, raised the “womanising” issue against the Forests Minister and demanded his resigtion.

Jamatia, however, strongly refuted the allegation and told the house that he has already filed a case in a local court against the newspaper.

Since Tripura become a full-fledged state in January 1972, incidents of running away with the symbolic silver mace by opposition legislators in the midst of an assembly sitting has occurred thrice. (With IANS input)