MP Assembly adjourned sine die; Cong protests over meagre allocation for tribals

The 5-day winter session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly was adjourned sine die on Friday after transacting listed business amid vociferous protests from the Congress over what the opposition party claimed was a meagre supplementary budget allocation of Rs 400 for tribals.

As soon as Question Hour commenced, Congress MLA Omkar Singh Markam protested and said the allocation was just Rs 400 for tribals, who comprise 22 per cent of MP’s population, and he was joined by his party colleagues.

However, state Legislative Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra questioned why Markam did not take part in the debate when the supplementary budget was passed on Thursday.

Speaker Girish Gautam asked the opposition members to participate in the discussion given that majority of queries in the Question Hour were raised by Congress members. Gautam asked BJP MLA Yashpal Singh Sisodia to put forth his query to start Question Hour for the day, but the Congress legislators continued to protest, with Mishra, also state jail minister, telling the Chair he was unable to answer Sisodia’s question, on prison diet, as he was unable to hear in the din.

The Speaker then adjourned the House for the entire Question Hour, and Congress MLAs trooped into the Well and shouted pro-tribals slogans when it reassembled.

Amid the protest, Speaker Gautam look up the listed business.

After the winter session ended, Mishra told reporters the opposition did not participate in the Question Hour, Zero Hour, Call Attention Motions and Bills, going onto assert that ”in my political life of 31 years in the state Assembly, I have not seen such an inactive, useless and non-communicative opposition”.

”They raised an issue (tribal allocation) today that they should have done on Thursday during the supplementary budget. They do not have common sense that zero also figures in budget provision. This budgetary provision was Rs 400 (to the tribal department). Budget provision of zero and Re 1 is also done. This is budgetary provision after which the money is bifurcated,” he said.

However, Markam, when contacted, said Mishra was misleading on the issue.

Congress MLA Dr Hiralal Alawa told reporters his party colleagues from the tribal community boycotted the House proceedings on Friday as ”the supplementary budget of over Rs 19,000 crore, which was passed yesterday, had an allocation of meager Rs 400 to the tribal department”.

”This government is cutting down the budget to the tribal department. The budgetary allocation to the state tribal department was Rs 4,144 crore in 2017-18, which nosedived to 1,718 crore in 2021-22,” he claimed.