Lashing out at BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari for threatening to “throw out Muslim MLAs” from the Assembly, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday warned the BJP against playing the “Hindu card” and accused the main Opposition party of undermining democratic values.
Adhikari on Tuesday had said that once the BJP comes to power in West Bengal after the 2026 Assembly polls, Muslim MLAs will be thrown out of the Assembly. “We will defeat Speaker Biman Banerjee and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. After the BJP assumes power, Muslim MLAs of their party (TMC) who will win and come to the Assembly, (we will) throw them out of the House,” Adhikari had said as BJP protested against the suspension of party MLAs by the Speaker.
Speaking in the Assembly on Wednesday, the chief minister said the BJP was importing “fake Hinduism” to Bengal. The TMC chief said: “Democracy is permanent, but the chair is not. Respect the chair. How can you think of throwing out Muslim MLAs?”
“How can your leader say that when Muslims win, you people will remove them from Assembly? How can they dismiss 33 per cent of the population?” she said, emphasising the importance of respecting the country’s policies, and cited the legacy of leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
“Ramzan month is being deliberately chosen by some to hurt Muslims. But people from minority communities should rest assured. The unity of all religions will prevail,” she asserted.
“Humanity is the biggest lesson of religion. But you people (BJP) always play the communal card in politics. Please do not exploit religion for narrow political gains… Your imported Hindu dharma is not supported by the Vedas or by our seers. How can you deny the rights of Muslims as citizens? This is nothing but a fraud. You are importing fake Hinduism,” Mamata said.
Stressing that her version of Hinduism differed from theirs, Mamata said: “I am a Hindu. I do not need a certificate from you for that. I have the right to protect Hindu dharma, but not your version of it. Please don’t play the Hindu card.”
“Please do not insult Bengal. Please do not try to divide Bengal in the name of religion. Why don’t you have Muslim candidates in elections? Almost 79 percent of my party’s candidates in any election are Hindus. We also have an adequate number of women candidates. The crow is trying to pose as a peacock now,” said the TMC supremo.
The chief minister also hit out at BJP MLAs for walking out from the Assembly, tearing papers and throwing them at the Speaker. “I told my MPs that you should remain in Parliament. Don’t walk out, because a debate in the Parliament is necessary for democracy. It does not mean that the Opposition will always tear papers or ransack the Assembly,” Mamata said.
Banerjee concluded her address by emphasising the importance of democracy and the right to free speech. “I respect democracy. I request the Opposition to let me speak. If you have something to say, say it. Let us have a respectful dialogue. I am here to serve the people,” she said, calling for mutual respect in political discourse.
The BJP MLAs, however, staged a walkout from the House and later demonstrated outside the Assembly.
Adhikari, who after being suspended from the Assembly has been sitting on a dharna in front of the Assembly gate, said that his remark on “throwing out Muslim MLAs” was in reference to the suspension of BJP legislators from the House.
“I said that as they are throwing me now, we will throw them out of the Assembly after 2026. In 2026, all TMC MLAs will be Muslim. No TMC MLA will be Hindu. We will throw them out of the Assembly,” Adhikari, who defeated Mamata in the last Assembly elections from Nandigram, said.
Calling the TMC government “anti-Hindu”, Adhikari said: “I will do everything which is in the interest of Hindus. Even if one Suvendu dies, many other Hindus will be born… I defeated Mamata in Nandigram in 2021. She can’t digest that. In 2026, we will defeat (her) at Bhowanipore and Speaker Biman Banerjee in his constituency.”
Meanwhile, BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh hit out at the CM. “When her party leaders like Firhad Hakim, Humayun Kabir, and Siddiqullah Chowdhury give communal statements, why did she not take action? She is now calling for peace in the Assembly, but she ordered her party leaders to ransack the Assembly during the Singur movement,” Ghosh said.
Earlier in the day, TMC MLA of Bharatpur, Humayun Kabir, asked Adhikari to apologise. “What he (Adhikari) said is very unfortunate. I am giving him 72 hours’ time. After that, we will gherao him at the Assembly,” Kabir said.