Congress MLA driven out of the assembly for wearing t-shirt again, violating previous instructions not to do so

Gandhinagar: Congress MLA from Somnath constituency Vimal Chudasama was driven out of the House of Gujarat Assembly by order of Speaker Rajendra Trivedi for wearing a casual t-shirt and not maintaining the decorum of the House. The Speaker had couple of days ago also asked Congress MLA not to wear t-shirt when attending the House.

The Speaker said that though he had clearly told Vimal Chudasama that he shouldn’t enter the House wearing t-shirt, he hasn’t obeyed the instruction and come to the House again wearing t-shirt today. The Speaker had asked Chudasama to borrow someone’s shirt but not continue to attend the house wearing t-shirt. Chudasama however opposed this instruction and argued there was no such provision that one dressed in t-shirt can not attend the house. The Speaker asked sargeants to drive Chudasama out of the house after this argument.

Chudasama later speaking to media persons said, ‘I wear t-shirt even when on visit to my constituency area. I don’t have kurta. If my voters have accepted me in t-shirt, why I can’t come to the State assembly wearing t-shirt? It’s my constitutional right to wear and eat whatever I wish. I am being targeted wrongly.’

Chudasama also said that even a BJP minister (Jayesh Radadiya) wears t-shirt, but actions are not taken against him. He asked, ‘Is it illegal to wear t-shirt in 21st century? I have attended the House in t-shirt through last over three years. It was not objected earlier.’

It’s worth noting that the Speaker is lawyer by profession. While there’s fix rule about how lawyers should dress while appearing in courts, there are no specifically mentioned, written rules regarding the dress code of MLAs. The Speaker insists that MLAs dress properly (in shirt/pent, kurta/payjama) when attending the House and maintain its decorum. A Speaker enjoys supreme power in the House and his verbal instructions, observations and orders in such matters are considered final. Speaker Rajendra Trivedi had on couple of occasions warned Congress MLA and asked him to dress properly. After repeated instructions, MLA was removed today from the House. Worth noting that the MLA’s t-shirt had ‘Free Spirit’ written over it and the color was black. The Speaker has number of times in the past asked MLAs not to wear black cloths when attending the house.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel when asked about this row, maintained that some conventions are unwritten even and they need to be followed. He gave example of parliament of England in this reference.

DeshGujarat