Winter Session of M.P. Assembly begins with protests over cough syrup tragedy, short duration of session

The first day of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly’s Winter Session convened on Monday (December 1, 2025) with a war of words between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Congress MLAs over tragedies that killed many children in the State over the past few months. 

The four-day-long session began with members paying their condolences to various people, including film actor and former Lok Sabha MP Dharmendra, former Union Minister Shriprakash Jaiswal, and the victims of the explosion near Delhi’s Red Fort.

However, the condolence session turned into an heated between both sides when Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar brought up the recent cough syrup tragedy that killed 26 children in Chhindwara and nearby districts and slammed the government for not including them in the condolence list. 

“Three consecutive tragedies occurred in the state, and it’s surprising that the government didn’t address the deaths, didn’t express sympathy, didn’t mention them. Has the government lost its humanity?” Mr. Singhar said in the House, while also slamming the government over the deaths of two children after they were bitten by rats at Indore’s state-run MY Hospital. 

Mr. Singhar demand increased compensation for the victims families. 

His remarks, however, drew criticism from Cabinet Minister Vishwas Sarang who accused the LoP of violating the House rules by mentioning issues outside the list, leading to a war of words between the Treasury and Opposition benches. 

Before the proceedings commenced, the Congress MLAs also staged a demonstration on the premises as they carried dummy infants to protest against the tragedies involving children with MLA Sena Patel dressing up as a demon and wearing a garland of cough syrup bottles.  

Congress MLAs also targeted the government over the short durations of the sessions while alleging that there was a conspiracy to “diminish” the role of legislators.

“The number of problems in admissions is constantly increasing in the State, and the session is becoming shorter and shorter. This is a conspiracy to diminish the role of legislators. What’s the point of a 3-day or 4-day session? Why does the government want to run away from the House? It doesn’t even want to listen. Where will the legislators express their views? How will the public’s problems be raised? All the farmers, all the students are protesting. If you don’t want to hold sessions and discuss [issues], what’s the point of having a Legislative Assembly?” Badnawar MLA Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat said. 

The ongoing session will have four sittings until December 5, with December 3 being a holiday on the 41st anniversary of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. 

The BJP and Congress MLAs also debated over the compensation for farmers for the crop damage due to excessive rain, the price difference compensation to Soybean farmers under the Bhavantar Scheme, and mismanagement and alleged shortage of fertilizer at distribution centres.