Following alleged unruly scenes inside the State Assembly Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay on Monday suspended Bengal Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari and three other MLAs for the rest of the Budget Session or for 30 days “whichever is earlier,†leading the entire battery of the saffron legislators to stage a walkout on the issue.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership said that if the Speaker would not withdraw his suspension then the party would boycott Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s speech in the House. Banerjee is scheduled to deliver her speech on Tuesday.
“If there is no Opposition Leader in the House then, the BJP will boycott the Chief Minister,â€
Adhikari said adding in that case he would deliver his speech at the gate of the Assembly. The other legislators who were suspended are Agnimitra Paul, Bankim Ghosh and Biswanath Karik. The Opposition Leader subsequently said that Karik was suspended though he was not present in the scene.
The Monday’s fracas started after an adjournment motion brought by BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul to highlight the incidents of disruption of Sarswati Puja at many places in the State earlier this month.
After Paul read out her speech the BJP demanded discussion on the matter alleging at many places the organisers had received threats for organising Saraswati Puja and in some places either they even had to perform the Pujas with police protection after obtaining order from the Calcutta High Court.
When the Speaker disallowed the discussion the BJP MLAs descended in the well shouting slogans and they even tore off the minutes, inside sources said.
The Speaker subsequently suspended the four MLAs. This is the fourth time when Adhikari has been suspended.
Referring to the disruption of Sarswati Puja -which organised throughout the State every year on Basant Panchami day - Adhikari referred to how the students of the Jogesh Chandra
Chaudhuri Law College in South Kolkata had to perform the Puja with police protection which was obtained through an order of the Calcutta High Court.
A former Trinamool Congress Chatra Parishad leader Shabir Ali had allegedly threatened the students of JCCLC with dire consequences if they performed the Puja inside the college leading the students to move the High Court seeking police protection.A similar situation allegedly occurred inside a school in South 24 Parganas where the headmaster of the school had to abandon the Puja after receiving threats from the local toughies.
The BJP had been raising the issue for the past several days.
A section of the TMC leadership however said that the faceoff in the JCCLC had no communal angle as it was an affair between the two groups of the party’s students’ arm.
“Shabir backed by a local MP wanted to control the affairs of the Puja himself while the rival group backed by another TMC leader wanted to retain its sway this led to the faceoff,†said a professor, adding “it is only about controlling the huge money that is raised from the Puja and has nothing to do with any communal angle.
Meanwhile, the BJP is planning to take out processions against the Speaker’s order, sources said.
