Opposition holds protest, walks out of Goa assembly over Manipur discussion

PANAJI: Goa assembly speaker Ramesh Tawadkar on Friday declined to allow a discussion on the Manipur issue, leading Opposition members to protest in the Well of the assembly as soon as post-lunch proceedings started and later stage a walk out.

“Do not ruin the time of the house. Goa is a peaceful state. In Goa people of all castes, religions live in a good way. By bringing the Manipur issue do not try to ruin the peace of Goa. Don’t try to instigate the people of Goa by bringing the Manipur issue,” speaker Ramesh Tawadkar said.

The resolution was disallowed because it was an attempt to instigate communities in peaceful Goa, Tawadkar said. Opposition members including legislators of the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and the Revolutionary Goans Party later held a sit-in protest outside the assembly complex.

Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said said: “I feel these people unnecessarily want to disturb the communal harmony of the state.”

Opposition members protested on Monday after a private member’s resolution moved by AAP MLA Cruz Silva was disallowed. The speaker later indicated that he could allow the discussion on private members day.

Leader of opposition Yuri Alemao said the speaker’s decision to disallow the resolution as “undemocratic.”

Opposition members, however, pointed out how a ruling member was allowed to table a private resolution condemning the BBC for the documentary “India: The Modi Question” despite the subject in question having nothing to do with Goa while when it came to Manipur the excuse given was that the issue was being tackled by the Supreme Court and the Central government.

“The Supreme Court and the Union Home Ministry are seized with the issue of the situation in Manipur. We are also concerned about what is happening there,” Pramod Sawant said.

Silva moved a resolution to “strongly condemn the violence that has erupted and ongoing in the state of Manipur and expresses shock and concern over loss of life of innocent citizens, loss of property and disruption to normal life.”

The resolution also called on the central government and the state government of Manipur “to ensure peace and law and order in the state and start dialogue with the community and to protect their life, religious structure and public property.”

All seven members of the opposition in Goa on Monday were suspended from the legislative assembly on Monday for two days after they disrupted proceedings in the house over the resolution being disallowed. The period of suspension was later reduced to 24 hours.