Exactly a week after West Bengal was disgraced in a village near Rampurhat in Birbhum district, the state was shamed yet again on Monday in the West Bengal Assembly, which in theory embodies the people’s will. The rumbustious scenes in the House over the law-and-order situation snowballed into physical violence, notably inflicting grievous injuries on Asit Majumdar, the Trinamul’s MLA from Chinsurah.
At another remove, the BJP’s chief whip, Manoj Tigga, is nursing an injury in the rib cage. It is a measure of the free-for-all that the Speaker has had to suspend five BJP MLAs, including the Opposition leader, Suvendu Adhikari ~ with Trinamul credentials as part of his CV ~ for the rest of the session. Incidentally, a session of the House continues unless it is prorogued by the Governor.
On Monday, the Speaker adjourned the session sine die. Close reflection on the trigger of the violence would suggest that it was disingenuous on the part of the Speaker to have rejected the BJP’s demand for a discussion on the deteriorating law and order. If the discussion had opened a pretty kettle of fish, so be it. As it turned out, the Speaker’s stand ignited the violence inside the House, with its members cutting a direly sorry figure.
The situation inside the Assembly exacerbated when security staff tried to block the movement of the MLAs. This is a major charge by both the Trinamul and BJP, one that calls for reflection, specifically that women representatives had been manhandled, attacked, and assaulted by their rivals. The Speaker claimed that the disturbance had resulted in injuries to 17 Trinamul MLAs and women security guards.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, currently on a tour of North Bengal, is said to be concerned about the inter-party violence inside the House primarily because it conveys an unpalatable signal about the state-of-affairs in West Bengal. The timing of the violence is unfortunate because it occurs on the eve of the Bengal Global Business Summit. The deaths by burning of nine citizens, and the disturbances in the Assembly are hardly the backdrop the state would want to its efforts to attract investments.
The spectre of an investigation by a Central agency, and Miss Banerjee’s charge that such actions are being initiated by an overzealous Centre to embarrass the state make the picture even more unedifying. Maybe it is time for an all-party consensus to contain the slide in law and order. The electorate looks up to members of the Assembly for concrete and positive remedy. An Opposition-sponsored bandh is scarcely one. Leaders must lead, not squabble and brawl.