Bhubaneswar: The Congress Wednesday announced to gherao Odisha Assembly March 27 to protest rising atrocities against women in the state and also the suspension of party MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati from the House.
The party has taken this decision during a meeting held here in the presence of AICC Odisha in-charge Ajay Kumar Lallu, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das, several party MLAs and other leaders.
Bahinipati, a senior Congress legislator, was Tuesday suspended from the assembly for seven days for “misconduct and unruly behaviour” following a scuffle between members of the ruling BJP and opposition MLAs in the House.
“The Congress has been fighting for the safety and security of women from street to assembly in Odisha. The chief minister himself admitted in the assembly that more than 36,000 women and 8,400 children were missing in the state. The statistics show a sorry picture of women and girls in the state,” said Lallu while speaking to media persons after the meeting.
During the last eight months of the BJP government, about 18,000 atrocities against women were reported in the state. When the Congress MLAs demanded a statement from the CM on this matter, the ruling party stalled the House, he claimed.
“Even after three-day long protest, the government has not issued a statement on the issue and our MLA Bahinipati was heckled, attacked and suspended, which created a black chapter in the history of the state assembly,” the Congress leader said.
The ruling BJP has “murdered” democracy like it does in other states and Parliament, he said.
“We strongly condemn such action on the party MLA. In protest of the move and rising crime against women, we will gherao Assembly on March 27,” said state Congress president Das.
Earlier in the day, the protest against the Speaker’s decision to suspend Bahinipati from the Assembly, the other Congress MLAs staged a walkout from the House soon after it resumed proceedings at 10.30 am Wednesday.
PTI
