Bhubaneswar: BJD MLAs today adopted an innovative way to protest in the Assembly by sprinkling Ganga water to ‘purify the House’.
The MLAs protested by sprinkling Ganga water inside and outside the Assembly, claiming they wanted to purify the House and its surroundings with the sacred water.
During Question Hour, BJD MLAs including Arun Sahoo, Ranendra Pratap Swain, Pramila Mallik, Dibya Shankar Mishra and many others held earthen pitchers and sprinkled Ganga water with mango leaf inside the House. The Speaker requested them not to enter the House with pitchers, following which the BJD MLAs left.
Opposition members claimed the government had made the House impure by allowing police to attack sitting MLAs. “We want the government to change its mind-set,” said BJD MLA Ranendra Pratap Swain.
His party colleague Dibya Shankar Mishra stated, “Democracy has completely failed in Odisha. The government has lost the people’s faith. I strongly felt democracy is at risk in Odisha”.
BJP MLA Saroj Padhi countered, “The Assembly is always sacred. We have fetched holy water from the Mahakumbh and sprinkled it on them to make them pure.”
