Mayawati resigns after walking out of Rajya Sabha

BSP supremo Mayawati today quit as Rajya Sabha MP after she was asked to wind up her speech on anti-Dalit violence in Saharanpur.

The proceedings in the Rajya Sabha were disrupted on Tuesday by an angry Opposition which sought to raise several issues like the farmers’ protests and violence against Dalits and minorities, with BSP chief Mayawati threatening to quit the House.

The noisy protests by Opposition members, many of whom trooped into the well, raising slogans, forced adjournment of the proceedings, once till noon, then till 2 pm and again till 3 pm.

Soon after the House assembled for the day, a visibly angry Mayawati, who was speaking on the recent anti-Dalit violence in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh, threatened to resign from the House after the Chair asked her to restrict her impromptu speech.

“I will resign from Rajya Sabha today,” a visibly annoyed Mayawati told Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P J Kurien when he asked her to wrap up her impromptu speech on Dalit violence in Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh.

“I have no moral right to be in the House if I am not allowed to put across my views on atrocities being committed against Dalits,” she said.

“I am going to resign from the House,” Mayawati said before walking out of the House in a huff. Her party colleagues led by Satish Mishra followed her but were back in the House soon to raise slogans against the alleged anti-Dalit policies of the government.

BSP members immediately rushed into the well shouting "Dalit virodhi yeh sarkar nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi" (This anti-Dalit government will not be tolerated).

Addressing a press conference outside the Parliament, she said, “This is the reason I have decided to quit from Rajya Sabha, I am not being heard, not allowed to speak.”

“When I tried speaking about the weaker sections today in the Rajya Sabha, I was not allowed to speak. Why?” she said.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Mayawati was challeging the Chair. "She should apologise. She has threatened the Chair," he said. Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad briefly prevailed over them to allow him to make his submission.

Azad said the government at an all-party meeting before the start of the Monsoon Session had agreed to discuss any issue that the Opposition wants to raise in the House.

"Promise was made to us in the presence of the Prime Minister. You are going against that," he said.

He said the Opposition, led by Congress, has given notices to discuss issues like crisis facing farmers, anti-Dalit violence and lynching of minorities.

Responding to the barbs of the treasury benches to respect the people's mandate, Azad said the government has got a mandate to protect the Dalits and minorities and for development.

"You didnt get a mandate to massacre minorities and Dalits," he said adding the Congress was staging a walkout in protest. Congress members then walked out of the House.

The House reassembled at 2 pm but could not continue and was adjourned for the day at 3.02 pm.