Bharatiya Janata Party chief whip Shankar Ghosh and MLA Agnimitra Paul were suspended for the day from the West Bengal Assembly for creating disorder.
Mamata Banerjee condemns BJP for derailing discussion on Bengali migrants’ plight.
BJP vows to conduct SIR in West Bengal ahead of next year’s assembly elections.
Bharata Janata Party (BJP) chief whip Shankar Ghosh was suspended from the West Bengal assembly on Thursday and had to be physically dragged out of the House by assembly marshals for refusing to leave. Later, BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul was similarly suspended and removed from the House by women marshals.
This conflict erupted as Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee was about to speak on a government resolution on alleged atrocities against Bengali migrants, with BJP legislators sloganeering and questioning the suspension of Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari on September 2. Banerjee condemned the BJP MLAs for trying to derail the discussion on Bengali migrants; however, the House was not adjourned despite the disorder.
This came in the wake of Wednesday’s conflict, when Sreerupa Mitra Chowdhury, a BJP MLA from West Bengal’s Malda, sparked a political row after asserting that assembly elections will not be allowed in the state next year unless the Election Commission conducts special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier declared her party will “in no way” accept SIR in West Bengal.
Chowdhury spoke at a press conference on Wednesday saying the BJP is prepared to stage a sit-in at the Election Commission’s office. She also mentioned the SIR may be conducted through the police or by deploying the army. Her remarks were strongly contested by Malda district Trinamul Congress (TMC) president Abdur Rahim Boxi, who accused Chowdhury of being a “missing MLA” and questioned the BJP’s intentions behind promoting the SIR particularly in West Bengal, while Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat remained left out.
These episodes are part of an ongoing conflict between the two parties in West Bengal over the question of the Bengali language. Most recently on Tuesday, TMC leaders organized mass protests and demonstrations across North Bengal condemning the BJP for the demolition of the Bhasha Andolan (Language Movement) stage on Mayo Road in Kolkata and accusing them of “trying of destroy democracy.” Chowdhury’s stronghold in Malda also saw a TMC staged protest meeting focused on Bengali identity and language, as reported by the Statesman.
(with inputs from PTI)
