Patna: The opposition BJP on Friday created a ruckus in the Bihar assembly before staging a walkout, demanding that a team of members of the House is sent to Tamil Nadu to verify reports of attacks on Bihari migrants workers in Tamil Nadu.
Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary took a grim note of the unruly behaviour of some of the BJP MLAs who had entered the well and placed chairs on the table of the reporting staff.
He asked Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary to advise the Chair on suitable action against the errant members to which the latter assented while lambasting the BJP for trying to derive political mileage.
"They have an issue with our Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav having visited Tamil Nadu on a personal invitation from the chief minister of that state. Even if reports of violence against migrants were true, would it have entailed officials and dignitaries from both states snapping all ties”, the minister said.
Earlier, Yadav, who was present in the House, pointed out that the Tamil Nadu DGP had denied the reports of violence, and slammed the BJP for raising a stink over unverified claims.
“You keep chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Is Tamil Nadu not a part of Bharat Mata?” asked Yadav while making a statement on the issue on the floor of the state assembly.
Referring to a video clip that Leader of the Opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha showed on his mobile phone, Yadav asked “how did you come to know it is of Bihari workers under attack from local Tamils? The only way we can ascertain it is by checking the matter with the authorities there.
“Chief Minister Nitish Kumar yesterday took note of reports and asked the officials here to get in touch with their counterparts in Tamil Nadu. The DGP of that state has also come out with a video statement in English. I have got it translated in Hindi”, said the Deputy CM.
The Tamil Nadu DGP asserted that the two videos were quite old and of skirmishes that took place in two different districts, Yadav said.
“In one of the videos, it is migrant workers from Bihar and Jharkhand who can be seen fighting among themselves. In the other, a brawl among local Tamils can be seen”, the RJD leader said.
Pointing towards the opposition members, he added “but these people are obviously not interested in facts. It is their wont to spread rumours. Only a few days ago they disrupted House proceedings over the arrest of the father of an army jawan, who was killed in action.
“It now turns out that the father has been arrested in connection with a case lodged by a neighbour”, the deputy chief minister said.