Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has decided to resign from the Rajya Sabha after she claimed that she was not allowed to speak on the atrocities against Dalits in the Upper House of the Parliament on Tuesday.
"When I tried speaking about the weaker sections today in the Rajya Sabha, I was not allowed to speak. Why? I have no moral right to be a member of the House if I am not allowed to speak for the weaker sections of society," Mayawati told reporters.
"This is the reason I have decided to quit from the Rajya Sabha. I am not being heard and am not allowed to speak," she added.
"If I am not allowed to talk, if I can't represent the section of the society I belong to, then there's no point in staying in the House. I will resign," an angry Mayawati threatened to quit even as Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien asked her to end her speech.
Kurien argued that Mayawati can only demand for a full discussion by giving a notice under rule 267 seeking adjournment of proceedings to take up an issue. The discussion can be held only after the Chair accepts the notice and agrees for the same on the advise of the government.
However, Mayawati refused to budge and stood her ground. Her term in the Upper House of Parliament will end in April next year.
The BSP chief argued with Kurien saying that she cannot be stopped from raising the issue about her 'samaj' (community) and the Dalits. "I have not finished. You cannot do this," she told the deputy chairman.
However, she stormed out of the Rajya Sabha after Kurien asked her to end her speech in which she attacked the BJP-led government at the Centre over the rise in atrocities against Dalits and lynchings over cow slaughter.
