Vandalism in Lok Sabha, Delhi Assembly

Acts of vandalism unmatched in recent memory rocked India’s national Parliament and the Assembly of the state of Delhi, rudely jolting the democratic institutions.

In Lok Sabha, the Lower House in India’s bicameral Parliament, lawmakers came to blows over the proposed formation of a new state of Telangana, carved out of existing Andhra Pradesh.

Not far away from India’s Parliament House, Opposition legislators in the Delhi Legislative Assembly ran amok, demanding the resignation of the state’s law minister belonging to the Aam Aadmi government.

In the Lok Sabha, the pro- and anti-Telangana MPs fought each other, damaged furniture and sprayed pepper powder, choking the MPs. One lawmaker had even pulled out a knife, India’s private TV channel NDTV reported on its website.

The fracas began a little after Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury of Bangladesh’s Jatiya Sangsad had left the Lok Shaba, whose session she had been invited to attend by her counterpart Meira Kumar.

Chaudhury is currently in Delhi at Kumar’s invitation.

All hell broke loose when Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde introduced for debate and voting the Telangana Bill, which lays down the road map for the formation of the new state.

NDTV said: “Mr Rajagopal, age 49, had sprung with his aerosol can in a scrum of parliamentarians fighting in the centre or the Well of the House. Reports that a knife had been pulled by an MP added to the chaos.”

“A glass table-top had been smashed. A mic had been yanked from a table and flung,” the report said.

The pepper spray had left the parliamentarians with smarting eyes and choking, forcing an evacuation.

Three MPs were admitted to hospital with burning eyes and the fourth with chest pain.

The anti-Telangana lawmakers said they would block every move to have the Bill passed.

Tension had been mounting over the past few days, but the happenings on Thursday left the House virtually riot-torn.

"They have shamed India, they have shamed us," said Speaker Meira Kumar, who later suspended 17 lawmakers for the violence.

Meanwhile, in the Delhi Legislative Assemby, a BJP legislator, RP Singh, placed bangles and lipstick before Law Minister Somnath Bharti, who was targeted by the main Opposition party over his raid at his constituency targeting African women he alleged were involved in a drugs and sex racket.

The Congress, which has propped up the Aam Aadmi Party government with external support, too, joined the opposition in demanding Bharti's sacking.

“A Congress lawmaker walked up to Delhi Speaker MS Dhir, tore up a file at his table and wrenched out his mic. The MLA, Asif Mohammad Khan, then walked to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and tried to rip out his mic too. Soon, other legislators followed and continued vandalism in the house,” the NDTV report said.