After the pandemonium in the state assembly on Monday, when the BJP legislators protested against the alleged malpractices by the ruling party in the recently-concluded civic polls and forced governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to keep his address on hold for an hour, the lawmakers of the saffron brigade were at it again today.
They staged a walkout after the suspension of two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators but a resolute chief minister continued with her speech firing salvo at the principal opposition with all guns blazing. The trigger for today’s bedlam in the assembly was the “unruly and unparliamentary”-like conduct of two legislators of the BJP on the opening day of the Budget session on 7 March in the presence of the governor.
The speaker, Biman Banerjee, today handed out suspension letters to two lawmakers of the BJP Mihir Goswami and Sudip Mukherjee for the entire session, leading the opposition camp protest against the move. The leader of the opposition, Suvendu Adhikari requested the speaker to revisit the decision and demanded revocation of suspension, while the speaker demanded him to give it in writing, to which Suvendu remained unmoved and turned. They then staged a walkout from the house.
After this, chief minister Mamata Banerjee in her address launched an attack on the BJP. The opposition MLAs kept protesting throughout her 40-minute speech. In a no-holds-barred attack, Ms Banerjee, who was greeted with Jai Shree Ram slogans by the BJP, countered with Jai Bangla slogan. She said, “The BJP is creating trouble in the assembly. They are not with the people. They should not get any seats. What they do best is trigger riots. The people of Bengal gave them a befitting reply in ballot boxes against all disinformation campaigns they had launched against the democratically-elected government.”
She added that the government is improving the socio-economic standards of the state with all its flagship schemes, while the opposition is fomenting unrest and creating divide in the society on communal lines.
“While we are for peace, they are for unrest. While we profess humanism, they are demonic in their conduct. They open fire on the issue of NRC, they mow down farmers but we rally their cause and support them in distress. They dump dead bodies in the river,” she said.
BJP will continue to protest till MLA suspensions are taken back: Leader of Opposition in the assembly Suvendu Adhikari today said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs would continue their agitation during the current session of the assembly in the lobby.
The BJP leaders will protest against the suspension of the two of their MLAs, Mihir Goswami and Sudip Mukherjee till the suspension is withdrawn. Mr Adhikari said that the state government is acting like a dictator, under the leadership of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and trying to snatch the rights of the opposition parties.
“With the Tughlaqi farman (dictatorship rule) of the state government, under the leadership of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, it is trying to shut the mouth of the opposition legislators inside the assembly house, so the two BJP MLAs were suspended without any cause. Opposition MLAs want to highlight the plight of the people of their respective constituencies and it is their legitimate right. The government is ignoring our MLAs in a bid to bypass the acute and severe issues of the state. The government is ruling here like Adolf Hitler,” he said.
Mr Adhikari claimed that BJP will win in Uttar Pradesh and other state polls, so the Trinamul Congress chief is highly scared of BJP. “Miss Banerjee even today took the name of the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during her speech in the House and attacked the Union government on several silly issues. She is scared about BJP’s victory tomorrow in five states. She is much concerned about saving some of her relatives in some CBI cases,” he added.
Mr Adhikari said that on behalf of the two MLAs and as a Leader of Opposition, he requested the Speaker of the House to withdraw the suspension of two MLAs but he was ignored. “The state is ignoring the opposition party and also ignoring the people of Bengal,” said Mr Adhikari.
Meanwhile, veteran BJP leader and former Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy today said that Tollywood actor Srabanti Chatterjee is clever and a prime beneficiary after joining BJP. “One thing is common in Srabanti, Sabyasachi Dutta, Babul Supriyo, Rajib, Mukul and Joyprakash. This is that all have maintained the same routine. All used the dais of the BJP for three days and drifted themselves in enjoyment and then quit and became calm. Out of these people, Srabanti is the cleverest. She gave profusely and received hugely and returned back to her old profession giving goodbye to politics,” tweeted Mr Roy