KOLKATA: Four BJP MLAs were suspended from the West Bengal Legislative Assembly for the current monsoon session for protesting the decision of Speaker Biman Banerjee to expunge BJP MLA from Balurghat Ashok Lahiri's speech from the records.
The BJP MLAs--Chief Opposition Whip Sankar Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Sankar Oraon and Dilip Burman--staged a walkout from the House and held demonstrations outside the Assembly gate. The four were suspended for their alleged disrespect to the chair and unruly behaviour in the House.
On Monday morning, the uproar began in the House after BJP MLAs objected to the expunging of remarks made by Ashok Lahiri, an economist and a BJP MLA from Balurghat, during discussions on a bill on Thursday in the Assembly.
During the Mention Hour, Lahiri requested the Speaker, citing rules, that his speech should not be expunged from the records of the House proceedings. Then Chief Opposition Whip Ghosh raised to speak on the issue, but was not allowed.
In protest, BJP MLAs tore papers and threw them into the air. The Trinamool Congress MLAs present in the House started shouting in response.
The Speaker warned the protesting BJP MLAs, but they did not relent. Later, the Speaker suspended four BJP MLAs after a privilege motion moved by West Bengal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay.
The Speaker subsequently ordered the Marshal to remove the protesting MLAs from the House. During scuffle with the security persons in the House Ghosh fell on the floor. The BJP alleged that his spectacles were broken. BJP MLA Mihir Goswami was removed forcefully from the House by the security persons.
During this uproar, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari was not present in the House. Immediately after the chaos, he entered the House and began protesting in front of the Speaker’s chair.
“This is not the place to do drama. Leave the House,” Speaker Banerjee told him. However, Adhikari remained there and continued his protest.
Adhikari later claimed that several BJP MLAs got injured in the scuffle inside the House. On the other hand, the Speaker said that a microphone and a table were damaged during the commotion. He also warned Adhikari that further action would be taken against the BJP legislators.
Later, Adhikari alleged that various belongings of the BJP MLAs were broken in the scuffle. He also accused the Marshal of using force against the BJP MLAs. “We will continue our protest demonstration on Tuesday, the last day of the current Assembly session,” he added.
National Convenor of BJP’s IT cell Amit Malviya termed today’s incident in the West Bengal Assembly as “West Bengal government's authoritarian panic”.