Guwahati: The Congress on Sunday demanded that Assam Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary initiate a breach of privilege motion against ruling BJP MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi for allegedly attempting to physically attack opposition legislators and verbally abusing them in the House.
The Congress also urged the Speaker to bar Kurmi from attending the assembly until a committee investigating the breach of privilege against the MLA submits its report.
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They called for a response from Daimary before the House reconvenes on Monday morning.
In a letter to Daimary, Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia argued that Kurmi’s behavior was unprecedented in the history of the Assam Assembly.
The incident occurred on Friday during a discussion when Kurmi verbally abused opposition MLAs, using expletives that were later expunged from the official records.
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Kurmi also lunged at the opposition benches, but marshals intervened to prevent him from getting closer.
Kurmi, a former Congress member who has represented the Mariani constituency since 2006, joined the BJP in 2021.
BJP state president Dilip Saikia has already asked Kurmi to issue a public apology for the incident.
Saikia explained that the Congress refrained from further disrupting proceedings after a brief 10-minute walkout on Friday, expecting that the ruling bench would arrange an all-party meeting where all sides could present their statements.
However, no such meeting occurred. The Congress leader added that many condemned Kurmi’s behavior and questioned the sanctity of the assembly.
Saikia further claimed that Kurmi not only lunged at and abused the opposition MLAs, including himself, but also threatened to take a more aggressive approach later.
He said that Kurmi’s repeated threats had instilled fear among opposition members.
In his letter, Saikia requested the Speaker to initiate a breach of privilege motion against Kurmi under rule 158 of the assembly’s rules and procedures and decide on appropriate action.
He also asked Daimary to bar Kurmi from attending the assembly until the committee submits its report.
Finally, Saikia expressed full confidence in Daimary’s impartiality and requested the Speaker to make his decision known before 9:30 a.m. on Monday when the House will meet again.