'Chipko’ movement remark: Opposition demands expunction of Yogi's statement in Assembly

Lucknow, Aug 30: Opposition members in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Thursday accused Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of using "unparliamentary language" during his speech in the House and demanded expunction of the remarks from proceedings.

As soon as the House met for the day, Leader of the Opposition Ram Govind Chowdhury raised the matter and alleged that unparliamentary language was used by the chief minister in his reply on the state's supplementary budget yesterday.

SP member Parasnath Yadav said that despite being a "yogi", the chief minister made such statements in the House that showed his "inexperience".

Congress Legislature Party leader Ajay Kumar Lallu alleged that political parties and persons were compared with animals, which is not good and unparliamentary words should be "expunged" from proceedings.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna maintained that there was nothing unparliamentary in the CM's speech.

"You can get the speech examined. There was nothing objectionable or unparliamentary in the CM's speech. Many times comparisons are drawn in an address. No names were taken by the CM," Khanna said.

Speaker Hriday Narain Dixit said he would sit with the minister and discuss the issue and added that "he is reserving his decision on the matter".

Taking a dig at Opposition parties' bid to strike an understanding ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Adityanath had yesterday said a sort of 'Chipko' movement was underway and those who fail to see a change in law and order were suffering from "vision disorder".

"A sort of 'Chipko' (sticking together) movement is presently underway in the state. The BSP says it maintains distance with the SP. Don't know how much distance they have. Snake can never become a mole. It will always bite," the chief minister had told the Legislative Assembly in the absence of joint Opposition which had staged a walkout earlier to voice their protest against various issues.

Though the Chipko movement or Chipko Andolan was a forest conservation movement, in this context the term was meant to describe opposition parties sticking together for a common cause - defeating the BJP in the upcoming parliamentary polls.

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PTI