New Delhi: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Supremo Mayawati on July 18 resigned from the Rajya Sabha, hours after she claimed she was not allowed to speak on atrocities against Dalits under the ruling NDA government, reported news agency PTI. She has sent in her resignation to the Vice-President. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister stormed out of the House earlier on July 18, after Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien asked her to conclude her impromptu speech on the anti-Dalit violence in Saharanpur. After exceeding her allotted three minutes, Kurien told her she “cannot monopolize” the floor.
“When the ruling party is not allowing me time to present my view on the current issues, then I think it is better for me to resign,” said Mayawati after sending her resignation letter to the Vice-President.
Earlier in the day, she told reporters outside Parliament, “When I tried speaking about the weaker sections today in the Rajya Sabha, I was not allowed to speak. Why? It’s a shame. If I can’t speak about our weaker sections in the House then I have no right to stay in the House. This is the reason I have decided to quit from Rajya Sabha, I am not being heard, not allowed to speak.”
“I met the chairman to hand over my resignation letter. It is not fair that I am not allowed to speak in the House on issues close to me…,” she said. In her resignation letter, she said, “When I got up to speak, the government side did not allow me to complete. Their members stood up and interfered… Instead of asking them not to interfere, the Deputy Chairman asked me to end as the allocated three minutes were over. Which rule says a member cannot speak for more than three minutes. It is not good.”
Mayawati’s exit from the House led to sloganeering from Opposition parties, who disrupted the House leading to an adjournment.
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