Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati resigned from the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, ANI reported. Earlier in the day, she had threatened to quit the Upper House after she was not allowed to speak in Parliament about atrocities against Dalits in Uttar Pradesh.
“When I’m not given time to speak in the House, it is best that I resign,” she told reporters after handing in her papers.
Mayawati had wanted to talk about the violence in Saharanpur, when Deputy Chairperson PJ Kurien had asked her to cut her speech short. She had then walked out of Parliament, where the Monsoon Session is currently being held.
“I was asked to speak for three minutes in the House,” Mayawati told reporters after she left Parliament. “I told the House that this is not Zero Hour, and I can speak for more than three minutes...But the speaker did not allow me to speak.”
Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had demanded an apology from the BSP chief for walking out of Parliament while it was in session.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Secretary General Sitaram Yechury, however, said Mayawati, had raised serious matters. “The government is doing nothing about the atrocities against Dalits and minorities who are under serious danger,” he added.
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