Four BJP legislators in West Bengal, including Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and the party’s state general secretary Agnimitra Paul, were suspended from the West Bengal Assembly for 30 days for allegedly tearing up official documents and throwing them at the Speaker while staging a protest in the House. Bankim Ghosh and Biswanath Karak were the other two BJP MLAs to be suspended for alleged unruly behaviour during the ongoing Budget session of the House. This is for the fourth time that Adhikari has been suspended.
Speaker Biman Banerjee suspended the four BJP MLAs till the end of this Budget session or for 30 days, whichever is earlier.
While the Trinamool Congress bristled with outrage, the BJP alleged that this “drama was a conspiracy to ensure that the Leader of the Opposition could not attend the House tomorrow when the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was supposed to give her speech.”
Suvendu Adhikari alleged that it was he alone who had walked into the well of the House and that Agnimitra Paul had only read out a statement after receiving the Speaker’s permission. “Our MLA Biswanath Karak was not even present it the House. This is a conspiracy to exclude our members who are vocal about the misgovernance of Mamata Banerjee Government,” he alleged.
The BJP leaders were protesting against alleged attempts to stall Saraswati Puja in various educational institutions in the State. An adjournment motion was brought by the BJP to highlight alleged intimidation at some places in the state over organising Saraswati Puja earlier this month.
“The way the Leader of the Opposition and some MLAs behaved today is condemnable. They tore official documents and threw them at the Speaker’s chair. Trinamool Congress chief whip Nirmal Ghosh brought a motion to suspend them for 30 days. The motion was put to vote. The MLAs voted for this, and it was carried. Accordingly, they (BJP legislators) have been suspended for 30 days or till the end of the session, whichever is earlier,” Biman Banerjee, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, told media persons.
He said that he had repeatedly warned the MLAs against unruly behaviour. “I told Adhikari, being the Leader of Opposition, if you behave like this, you will face punishment.” However, Adhikari along with other BJP MLAs continued to protest. After this, they staged a walkout. Banerjee stressed that if they walked out, then they may face punishment but the MLAs ignored his warning.
Senior Trinamool leader and Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay alleged that BJP MLAs, led by Adhikari entered the well of the House and raised slogans after the Speaker refused to hold a discussion on the adjournment motion brought by Paul.
“The way attempts were made to stall Saraswati Puja in various educational institutions this year, was unprecedented. Even the British didn’t do this before 1947. BJP women legislators brought an adjournment motion following business rules of the House. BJP MLAs staged a protest and raised slogans against this anti-Hindu government for around 10 minutes. We disregarded the business of the House, tore the papers and threw them. We staged a walkout,” Adhikari later told reporters.
In January this year, the Calcutta High Court had to order the police to provide security for Saraswati pujas inside a college campus in Kolkata. BJP leader Agnimitra Paul said: “Mamata Banerjee Government is anti-Hindu. Everyone knows it. The Hindus are being cornered in West Bengal. We are witnessing that at various places in the State, jihadis are disrupting Saraswati Puja. They are not letting us perform our puja.”
She alleged that the BJP had to go to the court for “every minute thing. Does it make sense to go to the court for a mere
puja ritual? So, we have brought an Adjournment Motion in the Assembly.”
She said the walkout by the BJP MLAs was to protest the Speaker’s refusal to a discussion on the adjournment motion brought by her and some other party legislators. The Speaker, while disallowing the discussion in the House, allowed one BJP MLA to read out the motion. After Paul read out the motion in the House, the BJP MLAs started protesting, raising slogans and holding placards, claiming appeasement by ruling TMC for electoral gains.
Paul later told reporters outside the Assembly that Saraswati Puja had to be held at some places in the State with police protection, including a law college in Kolkata which is Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s alma mater, as ordered by Calcutta High Court.
