Suvendu, 3 MLAs suspended from House for causing ruckus
Times of India | 18 February 2025
123 Kolkata: Bengal leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari, along with BJP MLAs Agnimitra Paul, Bishwanath Karak and Bankim Ghosh, were suspended from the state assembly for 30 days or till the end of the budget session. This came after the MLAs came down to the well of the House, tore up papers and threw them at the speaker's chair. This is the fourth time in the past three-and-a-half years that Adhikari has faced suspension.
Speaker Biman Banerjee said, "The behaviour of the leader of the opposition and a few other members, including tearing of official documents and throwing them toward my chair, is highly condemnable." A motion was brought by Trinamool chief whip Nirmal Ghosh, seeking action against the BJP MLAs. The motion was put to vote, with TMC MLAs voting in favour. "The motion was carried by the House and accordingly they (BJP MLAs) were suspended for 30 days or the remainder of the session," Banerjee said.
Following this, Adhikari announced a boycott of the CM inside the assembly. He declared that when CM Mamata Banerjee delivered her speech on Tuesday, he would stand outside the assembly holding a counter-speech. He added that BJP MLAs would abstain from attending the session during the CM's speech and stage a protest outside the assembly gates. BJP will also launch a new social media page named ‘BJP Legislature Party' which will broadcast updates about their legislative activities and protests.
Kolkata mayor and senior state minister Firhad Hakim scoffed at this. "Who is BJP to boycott CM Banerjee? They didn't make her the CM, the people of Bengal did. Boycotting the CM would mean boycotting the people of Bengal. This is BJP's brand of politics where people aren't the priority," he told reporters.
The suspended MLAs created ruckus during a discussion on alleged disruptions of Saraswati Puja in various parts of the state. BJP MLAs Agnimitra Paul, Chandana Bauri, Tapasi Mandal and Sumita Sinha had submitted a request for an adjournment motion on the matter, but their plea was rejected. As arguments intensified, Adhikari descended to the well. Other BJP MLAs followed suit. Later, Adhikari and his colleagues staged a walkout.
Reacting to the suspension, Adhikari said: "I was the only one who went down to the well. Agnimitra Paul and Bankim Ghosh did not do so, yet they were suspended."
As BJP pointed out that Banerjee as an MP had also torn papers in the Lok Sabha, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: "Banerjee's voice was stifled by CPM then. But here... Bengal is perhaps the only legislature which allocates 50% of its time for the opposition to speak. It is BJP who resort to such antics wasting parliamentary time instead of taking up causes for people's sake."