As expected, the Winter Session of Odisha Assembly began on a stormy note on Tuesday from the very beginning. The house could not function after the condolence motion due to the opposition’s uproar and pandemonium.
The opposition BJD has demanded that the words of secularism and socialism be changed as they are not included in the preamble of the constitution in the assembly hall.
On the other hand, the Congress has targeted the BJP-led government over the mango kernel deaths. It has demanded a judicial inquiry into the mango kernel gruel deaths and the resignation of CM Mohan Majhi.
After the condolence motion, both BJD and Congress members rushed to the well of the House and continued their heated argument on different issues. As a result, the house was repeatedly adjourned.
When the assembly proceedings began on Tuesday, the condolence motion was first taken up for the departed members of the House.
Then, during the Question Hour, Speaker Surma Padhi called the Panchayati Raj Minister to answer a question from MLA Padma Charan Haiburu. At this time, BJD senior MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain sought the Speaker’s permission to speak on the attention motion. As the Speaker did not give him the opportunity, the BJD MLAs came to the middle of the house and created a ruckus.
Similarly, the Congress MLAs raised slogans in the middle of the house demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister on the issue of starvation deaths in the state. Due to the ruckus of the opposition, the Speaker adjourned the house from 11:30 am to 12:25 pm.
Later, during the zero hour, BJD MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain said, “The words secular and socialism do not appear in the Constitution in the Assembly. The words secular and socialist are the spirit of the Constitution. We are celebrating Constitution Day today. The Constitution is the protection of the people of India. The 42nd amendment to the Constitution was made in 1976. The words socialism and secularism were added in it. But a petition was filed in the Supreme Court to remove these two words, but the Supreme Court dismissed it yesterday. But the said words are not in the preamble of the Constitution in the Odisha Assembly. We express our regret over this. By doing this, the Constitution has been insulted. Swain asked whether the double engine government should do this.
BJP MLA Irasis Acharya said that after the 42nd amendment in 1976, the words socialism and secularism were added in the Constitution. But a petition was filed in the Supreme Court to remove these two words, but the Supreme Court dismissed it. The Supreme Court has said in its own state that these two words will remain in the preamble of the Constitution. We have also accepted the decision of the Supreme Court and accepted that the preamble is the basic spirit of the Constitution. So you want to disturb the house. The preamble of the constitution that is currently placed in the assembly hall is the first book of the Constitutional Assembly. So far, 110 amendments have been made to the constitution. Tomorrow, one more amendment may be made. Do we always change the preamble of the constitution, he asked the opposition.
Similarly, taking a dig at the BJD, he said that the power to amend the constitution lies only with the parliament. Since none of your MPs are there, you are raising issues in the assembly. While the BJP MLAs were speaking, the BJD MLAs stood up from their seats and shouted slogans.
The Congress MLAs, as usual, came to the well of the house and continued their agitation.
Keeping in view the immobility of the house, the Speaker adjourned the house from 12:37 pm to 4 pm.
