Opposition BJP MLAs on Wednesday staged a walkout in the state Legislative Assembly repeatedly for at least three times, demanding the minister and Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim to withdraw his recent comments ‘need to spread Islam among non-Muslims.’
The BJP MLAs left the Assembly three times during the day today when the Trinamul Congress leader rose to reply to questions in the House.
Mr Hakim, while addressing in the ‘All India Quran Competition’ held earlier this month, reportedly had said, “Those who are not born in Islam are unfortunate. We have to bring them under the fold of Islam.”
Today, while replying Mr Hakim, the state urban development minister, claimed that his comments have no relation to politics as well as the society and he would remain secular as he has been.
The MLAs belonging to the saffron camp, led by their party chief whip Shankar Ghosh, demanded the minister to withdraw that comment.
“I have been a secular person throughout my life. Whatever comments I had made at a religious programme has nothing to do with politics and society. I’ll remain secular and non-communal till the last breath of my life,” Mr Hakim said.
Claiming this as “unconstitutional” and “unprecedented”, the Speaker in the Assembly, Biman Bandyopadhyay urged the saffron party legislators to follow the decorum of the House.
The ruling party MLAs, while countering opposition BJP counterparts, protested against multiple walkouts of the BJP MLAs.
The state agriculture minister Sovandeb Chatterjee said that in his 30-plus years’ of political career, he has never seen any opposition party act like this.
“Remarks made by somebody at a programme outside have no link to the House. This should not be discussed here,” the veteran agriculture minister said.
He claimed that the people of Bengal would vote the BJP out of the state in the Assembly elections, due in 2026.