The Congress party MLAs had been suspended from the House for seven days on a charge of ‘indiscipline’. They were demanding formation of a House Committee to inquire into the rising crimes against women across the state after the BJP came to power in June last year.
The Lower PMG area in the heart of the city turned into a battle ground on March 27 as Congress workers clashed with police in an attempt to enter the state assembly to protest alleged atrocities against women in the state. The issue has been heating up for some time with Congress MLAs staging protests inside the assembly and a dozen of them being forcibly evicted from the House for alleged indiscipline.
The party had given a call for Vidhan Sabha gherao on the issue and thousands of Congress workers assembled at the Lower PMG and marched towards the legislature. They broke some of the barriers set up by the police which was forced to resort to lathi charge, use water cannons and also tear gas shells. While scores of Congress workers sustained injuries at least a dozen policemen were also injured in the clashes.
There was heavy police deployment near the assembly with over 80 platoons of forces mobilised and multi-level barricades erected around roads connecting the state assembly. While police claimed that they resorted to lathi charge and used other tactics to disperse the agitators, who pelted stones and chairs at the personnel guarding the barricades, Congress leaders alleged that police acted at the behest of the government to suppress a peaceful agitation.
Hundreds of Congress workers took out a rally from the Ram Mandir square to the protest venue, shouting anti-government slogans. They accused the BJP government of failing to protect the dignity of women in the state. Many senior Congress leaders, including state Pradesh Congress Committee president Bhakta Charan Das were detained by the police. AICC-appointed state Congress in-charge Ajay Kumar Lallu was also present. Das alleged that a peaceful agitation was sought to be disrupted by the police with use of force. “We were staging a peaceful protest and tried to march towards the assembly. But the police fired tear gas shells at our leaders and workers. Many sustained injuries,” said Das asserting that he would not be able to silence the workers of his party and the people of the state. “We will carry on this fight, taking it to the streets and every village. We will soon launch Nari Nyay Satyagraha throughout the state,” said Das.
The Congress president also alleged that their workers and leaders were stopped at different places on their way to Bhubaneswar. This was the first major protest by the party since the last election. The Congress has 14 MLAs in the state assembly. All its 14 MLAs were earlier suspended from the state assembly after their continuous protest over the issue of rising crimes against women. The party said their MLAs would continue to protest until the state government forms an assembly committee to probe the cases of atrocities against women. The government has, however, ruled out the formation of such a committee. It has asserted that crimes against women have declined in the state under the BJP rule.
The assembly had witnessed high drama earlier with suspended Congress MLAs, who were staging a sit-in the Well of the House protesting action against them, being forcibly evicted from the Assembly. One of the MLAs alleged that he and his colleagues were manhandled and forcibly evicted from the Assembly at the dead of the night. He described it as “grossly illegal and undemocratic.”
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Rama Chandra Kadam alleged that the party MLAs during their stay in the Assembly, were denied food, water and even toilet facility. Kadam allegedly sustained injuries in the Assembly. The party MLAs had been suspended from the House for seven days on a charge of ‘indiscipline’. They were demanding formation of a House Committee to inquire into the rising crimes against women across the state after the BJP came to power in June last year.
Taking to X, Congress Odisha in-charge Ajay Kumar Lallu said: “The Congress party is fighting from the streets to the House for investigation of the exploitation and atrocities on women in Odisha. Our 12 MLAs were expelled from the House, and now when state president Bhakta Charan Das Ji and former state president Jaydev Jena Ji were going to meet the MLAs sitting on strike in the Assembly, the police forcibly arrested them. Why is the government afraid of a high-level investigation? What does it want to hide by not forming an investigation committee?”
