Congress MLAs were suspended from the Gujarat Assembly today for creating a ruckus over BJP president Amit Shah's speech, calling it "encounter" of the House.
Speaker Ramanlal Vora suspended 50-odd Congress MLAs for shouting slogans against Shah and seeking his apology.
When Shah, a member of state legislature, spoke in the House, Congress MLAs were absent because of earlier suspension.
As the House met for the second sitting in the afternoon, when Shah was not present, Leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela made a scathing remark that the chief of the ruling party spoke as if he was addressing a public rally.
"Shah did an encounter of this house through his speech. He was speaking as if he was addressing a public rally. It was Gujarat police, not Congress, which sent him behind bars," said Vaghela, referring to Shah's arrest in the Sohrabuddin Shaikh fake encounter case.
"Shah's entire speech was election-oriented. I demand that Shah apologise for delivering such a speech," he said.
This led to a huge uproar as BJP members sought Vora's intervention to stop Vaghela from making such remarks.
Congress MLAs, who were carrying placards, started gathering near the well and demanded apology from Shah, whom they referred to as "General Dyer".
Taking a strong exception, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pradeepsinh Jadeja said Vaghela's remarks were uncalled for, as the Supreme Court had discharged Shah in the encounter case.
As Congress MLAs' protest continued, the Speaker suspended them for the rest of the day.
Afterwards, Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama defended Amit Shah. "Shah's entire speech revolved only around development. The speech contained no political observations and it is the right of an MLA to express his thoughts in the house," he said.
Earlier, opposition MLAs were suspended till the end of the first sitting of the House today for shouting slogans over Justice M B Shah Commission's report.
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