Oppn protest over women safety, caste census rock Odisha Assembly

Bhubaneswar, March 25
The Odisha Assembly witnessed massive disruptions again on Tuesday, as legislators from the opposition parties, Biju Janata Dal and Congress, continued to hold noisy protests in the House over "rising" crime against women, caste census and reservation for the Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST).

As soon as the proceedings of the House commenced, the opposition members gathered near the podium of the Speaker and started sloganeering and playing traditional musical instruments.

Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy asked the legislators to take their seats and allow the House to function smoothly, but to no avail.

The Speaker adjourned the House several times amidst the noisy protests by BJD and Congress legislators.

The all-party meeting called by the Speaker could not resolve the deadlock in the House.

"We stick to our demand for a House Committee to investigate rising crime against women in the state. This is a larger public issue, but the treasury bench is not accepting our demand. We will continue our protest till our demand is accepted," Congress MLA Ashok Das told IANS.

The legislators of the main opposition BJD also staged a sit-in protest before the Assembly demanding reservation for SC/STs and the Other Backward Classes in education and employment, both in private and government sectors.

The party also targeted the state and Central governments for "failing" to conduct a caste-based census in the country.

On the other hand, senior BJP leader Babu Singh said the BJD, which "failed" to do anything for the SC/STs and OBCs during their 24-year rule, is "murdering democracy" by deliberately disrupting the House over the issue.

"The government is ready to hold discussions on any issues raised by the opposition," Babu Singh said.