Bihar: Left Parties, AIMIM Demand Mourning For Dead Palestinians, Protest After Speaker Denied; Rift In Ruling Alliance

The opening day of Bihar's Legislative Assembly Winter Session on Monday was adjourned due to demands by Left parties, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), to pay homage to the casualties in Palestine amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary declined the request, stating that it is "against our precedence".

The Left parties, supported by All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen's (AIMIM) lone MLA Akhtarul Iman, staged protests, leading to the House's adjournment for the day.

During a moment of silence for recently deceased public representatives, CPI (ML) MLA Mehboob Alam called for the House to also mourn the loss of lives in Palestine.

Speaker Choudhary disallowed the request, prompting a protest from the Left MLAs.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Tejashwi Yadav were reportedly taken aback by the demand from CPI (ML), one of their coalition partners.

Mehboob Alam, leading the protest, emphasised the need to remind the central government of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict, noting India's traditional support for Palestine.

On the other hand, Janata Dal (United) MLA Sanjeev Kumar criticised the behavior of their Left allies, stating, “We cannot accept the behaviour of our Left allies. They should also remember atrocities committed by Palestinians in Israel. The government should lodge cases against them. Even if they (Left parties) are our allies, we would object to their improper stand.”