“If she wants we will again send her to Rajya Sabha,” RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav said. (ANI photo)
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has extended support to Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati after she resigned from Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. “We support Mayawati Ji and if she wants we will again send her to Rajya Sabha,” he told ANI. “This behavior of BJP Ministers against Mayawati Ji proves that BJP is an anti-Dalit party,” he added.
The BSP supremo resigned from the Upper House of Parliament hours after she claimed she was not allowed to speak on atrocities against Dalits under the ruling NDA government. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister stormed out of the House earlier on Tuesday, after Deputy Chairman P J Kurien asked her to conclude her impromptu speech on the anti-Dalit violence in Saharanpur. After exceeding her allotted three minutes, Kurien told her she “cannot monopolise” the floor.
“When the ruling party is not allowing me time to present my view on the current issues, then I think it is better for me to resign,” said Mayawati after sending her resignation letter to the Vice-President.
Earlier in the day, she told reporters outside Parliament, “When I tried speaking about the weaker sections today in the Rajya Sabha, I was not allowed to speak. Why? It’s a shame. If I can’t speak about our weaker sections in the House then I have no right to stay in the House. This is the reason I have decided to quit from Rajya Sabha, I am not being heard, not allowed to speak.”
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and Member of Parliament Sitaram Yechury echoed Mayawati’s concerns and said the Dalits were in a serious condition in the country. He claimed that Dalits and minorities were in grave danger in the country.
After Mayawati walked out from Rajya Sabha, the Opposition parties raised slogans and caused disruptions in the Upper House, leading to an adjournment.
