New Delhi, March 23 The AAP MLAs, the opposition party, boycotted the first day of the Delhi Assembly's Budget Session on Monday, staging a protest with a "bier" (memorial), alleging that the ruling BJP was "murdering" democracy.
Leader of the Opposition Atishi said on Sunday that the AAP MLAs would boycott the Budget Session if the suspension of four party legislators in the previous sitting of the House was not revoked.
Assembly Speaker Vijender Gupta "strongly condemned" the AAP MLAs' protest and said that the boycott of the session by the Leader of the Opposition was completely against the dignity of the House and parliamentary decorum.
"It is deeply regrettable that since the serious issue of the desecration of the Sikh Gurus was raised in the last session, the Leader of the Opposition has not attended the House and continues to remain absent," Gupta said in a statement.
The AAP MLAs tried to enter the Assembly premises, but the police stopped them at a barricade. Later, they took out a march 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 lieutenant governor's address to the House. Their suspension has continued as the sitting was not prorogued.
"We have been elected by the people of Delhi, and we raise their troubles and issues, but the BJP wants us not to raise our voice," Atishi said, adding that the police prevented them from entering the Assembly premises.
The AAP MLAs alleged that the BJP was openly "murdering" democracy and stifling the opposition's voice.
Party MLA Gopal Rai said that if the suspension was not revoked, the AAP legislators would also boycott the budget presentation on Tuesday.
Atishi accused the BJP of resorting to crushing the opposition's voice because of its "arrogance" of being in power and added that "AAP will not bow before this dictatorship and will raise Delhiites’ issues from the streets to the Assembly."
Cabinet minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa also condemned the AAP's decision to boycott the House.
“The AAP is shirking its responsibility. The people of Delhi placed it in the opposition. They evaded accountability for 11 years while in government, and now this drama-prone party is running away from its duty as opposition," Sirsa said.
He said that AAP was avoiding discussions in the House because issues from their tenure are now surfacing.