Caught again smoking inside parliament premises

TMC MP Saugat Roy is a Proclaimed Tobacco Offender

New Delhi, November 29: TMC MP Saugat Roy thumbed his nose at smoking law again right within the parliament where laws are passed. His fetish for violating smoking prohibition clamped long ago by Supreme Court is well known. It looks as if he is ‘addicted’ to breaking the law too. He may be booked this time.
This writer, now editor, Meditoall, was first to catch him blowing smoke rings within parliament during UPA rule. On Friday (November 28), he was again caught smoking while sitting on Dharna in front of Gandhi statue opposing proposed revision in MNREGA. He showed disrespect to both Gandhi and Supreme Court. This time a TV channel caught him in the act. First, he tried to hide his cigarette but when confronted by the channel reporter, he got angry and brazened out saying, ‘show me where it is written that cigarette smoking is prohibited in parliament.’
In this brazening act, he seemed only to emulate his firebrand leader Mamta Banerjee who just after ponzi scam revelation had shocked the anti tobacco campaigner community by exhorting people of her state to smoke more so that the government could collect more revenues.
There is an interesting fact about prohibition of smoking in public places. When Supreme Court passed the order, it was seen being violated right within the SC premises itself. Erstwhile Additional Solicitor General of India (ASG), Ms Indira Jaisingh Singh, had to snatch cigarette from the hands of offending lawyers and had tough time getting SC prohibition implemented fully in the SC premises itself. Indira Jai Singh had disclosed this during Tobacco Endgame conference in Delhi organized by Hriday-Shan, an anti tobacco organization.
Dr. HarshVardhan, former Union health minister and currently Union Minister of Science and Technology, would have done the same thing with Saugat Roy. He would have snatched the cigarette from his hand and had counseled him how dangerous smoking could be to his health. Dr. Harsh Vardhan is known to have stopped his car whenever he spotted someone blowing the cigarette in the way. He would go the man, snatch his cigarette, throw it and counsel him.
Colas, the new tobacco, are out of bound for parliament. Colas were prohibited by parliament within its precinct after Sunita Narayan’s organization, Center for Science and Environment came out with shocking study of colas having pesticides. Since then Colas have not been spotted in parliament.