New Delhi, March 23 Members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the main opposition party, boycotted the first day of the Delhi Assembly's Budget Session on Monday, staging a protest with a "bier" (funeral pyre), alleging that the ruling BJP was "murdering" democracy.
Leader of the Opposition Atishi said on Sunday that AAP MLAs would boycott the Budget Session if the suspension of four party legislators in the previous session of the House was not revoked.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs attempted to enter the Assembly premises, but the police stopped them at a barricade. Later, they marched outside the Assembly carrying the "bier".
Four AAP MLAs – Sanjeev Jha, Jarnail Singh, Som Dutt, and Kuldeep Kumar – were suspended in January this year by Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta for disrupting the address of the Lieutenant Governor to the House. Their suspension has continued as the session has not been prorogued.
"We have been elected by the people of Delhi, and we raise their concerns and issues, but the BJP wants us to remain silent," Atishi said, adding that the police prevented them from entering the Assembly premises.
AAP MLAs alleged that the BJP was openly "murdering" democracy and suppressing the opposition's voice.
