Suvendu slams state govt for excluding opposition from official events
The Statesman | 27 November 2024
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has repeatedly alleged in the past that opposition representatives are not invited to government events. Now, Leader of Opposition in Assembly Suvendu Adhikari has launched an unprecedented attack on the state government on this issue. Speaking in the Assembly on Tuesday, Suvendu criticised the state government, saying, “Numerous government-funded events take place across districts, yet MPs and MLAs from the opposition are not invited. Is it their ancestral property? This is why Bengal’s Constitution is under threat.” Referring to the era of the previous Left Front government, the MLA from Nandigram said, “They used to attack Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee by calling it an ‘us versus them’ situation. I was part of their party back then. But now this ‘us versus them’ narrative has reached an extreme!” During the Left regime, members of the opposition were made chairpersons of the Public Accounts Committee in the Assembly. Even in Parliament, this tradition continues. Highlighting the importance of such practices for a healthy democracy, Suvendu remarked, “The only exception is West Bengal. All positions have been given to their people. Not a single one has gone to the opposition.”
Furthermore, Suvendu accused Speaker Biman Banerjee of behaving like a political leader. He stated that he would write to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court regarding this matter.
Suvendu alleged, “The Speaker is behaving like a political leader. From the Speaker’s chair, he has attacked the central government, the ED, and the CBI through resolutions. This cannot be done while sitting in the Speaker’s chair. He has tarnished the sanctity of Constitution Day. I will write letters against this.”