Kolkata:
West Bengal Assembly Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay on Tuesday directed the secretary of the House not to provide any document related to its proceedings to BJP legislators.
Mr Bandyopadhyay’s directive came after MLAs of the saffron party tore official documents in the assembly, as the Speaker turned down their proposal to adjourn the House over alleged attacks on temples in different parts of the state and staged a walkout.
The Speaker also rejected the BJP legislators’ proposal of introducing a Bill related to protecting children’s rights.
Mr Bandyopadhyay alleged that the BJP MLAs have earlier, too, torn documents of House proceedings in the assembly while staging protests.
“Do not give them (BJP MLAs) papers (related to assembly proceedings),” he told the secretary of the House.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari dubbed Mr Bandyopadhyay’s decision the “rarest incident in the Indian Constitution”.
“There is no democracy even inside the legislative assembly. The opposition is not being heard. The Trinamool Congress government is trying to do everything by force. The walkout by BJP MLAs is in protest against this as well,” said Mr Adhikari, who was earlier suspended from the assembly till March 18 for allegedly insulting the chair of the Speaker during the budget session.
Mr Adhikari, along with other BJP MLAs, also staged a demonstration outside the state Assembly protesting the Speaker’s decision not to allow the adjournment motion.
“In the last four to five days, there have been incidents of attacks on Hindu temples and idols vandalised and set on fire in a few areas in Tamluk constituency. Not a single arrest was made. In Murshidabad’s district Nawada and Uluberia, Hindus were attacked. Hindu shop owners and houses were set on fire and looted,” the BJP leader alleged.
Mr Adhikari also claimed that in Uluberia, people celebrating India’s win in the recently concluded Champions Trophy were attacked.
“In Uluberia, those who were celebrating India’s victory at the Champions Trophy were attacked. The Uluberia IC was injured, and when one of the BJP MLAs proposed an adjournment motion today, he was not allowed to speak. This is illegal. This is a direct attempt to choke the voice of the common people of Bengal,” he said.
The Speaker dismissed the proposal of the BJP MLA, stating that it was ‘irrelevant’.
Mr Adhikari also said that the BJP legislators will hold a bigger protest in front of the assembly on Wednesday.
The LOP also alleged that the police in parts of the state had asked people to complete celebrating Holi by 11 am on March 14, which was a Friday, and was coinciding with the special prayer day of another community, and labelled the state government as “Muslim League 2” and the police personnel “communal”.
“We have never seen such a thing after Independence. The additional SP of Birbhum district has told people to finish playing Basanta Utsav in Santiniketan by 11 am because it falls on Friday, and it’s a special day to pray.
“The Amdanga IC is asking people not to drink alcohol. Why can’t you ask your Police Minister to stop the sale of liquor on that day? This is communal police and communal government… Muslim League 2,” he said.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also the police minister of the state.
Mr Adhikari predicted that the Hindu population would “throw them (TMC) away from power”.
“We will defeat Speaker Biman Banerjee and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. After the BJP assumes power, we will carry the Muslim MLAs of their (TMC) party, who will win and come to the Assembly, and throw them out of the House in another 10 months,” Mr Adhikari said.
Senior TMC leader and Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said he would prefer not to react to Mr Adhikari’s comment.
“I would prefer not to react to a ‘keora’ (a mild invective in Bengali) like him. It’s not my taste,” Hakim said.
TMC’s Canning (East) MLA Shaukat Molla said that if Muslim MLAs were treated the way Mr Adhikari claimed, they would also not remain silent.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
