Assembly happenings shocking, says Badal; visits AAP MLAs in hospital

Former Chief Minister Parkash Sigh Badal on Thursday dubbed as "shocking" the unsavoury happenings in the Punjab assembly on Thursday.

Two Aam Aadmi Party legislators, including a woman lawmaker, were injured and the turbans of two others were allegedly tossed during the commotion when the watch and ward staff of the assembly physically removed them from the house on Speaker Rana K.P. Singh's orders.

MLAs Sarabjit Kaur Manuka and Manjit Singh were taken out of the assembly building on stretchers and rushed to hospital. Manuke fell unconscious after she was allegedly hit in the head during a scuffle with the marshals. Manjit Singh was also injured in the melee.

"In the 70 years of my public life, I have neither seen, nor experienced, nor even imagined, incidents of such horrific, shameful and repressive nature," Badal told the media.

Badal said it was "midsummer madness of the ruling Congress" and an outrage worse than the horrors of the Emergency days.

The veteran Akali leader also visited the injured AAP legislators at the Government Multi-specialty Hospital in Sector 16 here.

"The Indian democracy has been shamed in broad daylight on the Vidhan Sabha floor. I still find it hard to believe what I saw and heard," the former Chief Minister said.

Badal enquired after the health of the two legislators admitted in hospital, but both seemed in no condition to speak.

The Akali Dal leader demanded the registration of criminal cases against those who indulged in "wanton violence against elected public representatives and those who issued such shameful orders".

"Under the Congress government, the elected representatives are not safe even in the Vidhan Sabha," he said.

"Badal was shocked to see the two legislators were lying virtually unattended on stretchers, hours after they were admitted. They were being surrounded only by relatives and supporters," a spokesman for the former Chief Minister said.

Chandigarh's Director of Health Services Dr. Rakesh Kumar visited the hospital when Badal was there standing near the stretchers on which the AAP legislators were lying.

"Treat them with compassion and respect due to every citizen. What is happening here? They are lying in a state of neglect" Badal told the official.

--IANS

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