BJP MLA's Anti-Muslim Rhetoric, Muslim Man's Lynching Rock Bihar Assembly

The Bihar assembly was on Monday adjourned for an urgently convened meeting of the business advisory committee as opposition members seemed determined to corner the Nitish Kumar government on a range of issues.

As soon as the House assembled at 11 AM, several members of the opposition parties, mainly the RJD, trooped into the well demanding suspension of BJP MLA Haribhushan Thakur Bachaul.

Bachaul is in the eye of a storm over a statement he gave to the media last week that Muslims living in India should be stripped of voting rights and treated as second class citizens.

After repeated pleadings by Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, the opposition MLAs went back to their seats and began apprising the Chair of the issues they were concerned about.

Besides the utterances of Bachaul, two other issues were raised. These included alleged mob lynching of a worker of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) in Samastipur by suspected cow vigilantes and police high-handedness in enforcing prohibition which had recently got the goat of the Speaker in his own assembly constituency.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary rose to reply on the government's behalf. However, the opposition members seemed dissatisfied and kept demanding "Karya mantrana samiti ki baithak" (meeting of the business advisory committee).

A little after 11.30 AM, the Speaker adjourned the House, requesting the members to join him for a meeting of the business advisory committee at 11.45 AM.

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