Kolkata: Pradesh Congress functionary Suman Roychaudhuri lodged an FIR at Amherst Street police station, alleging that Suvendu Adhikari's statement — that he would "physically throw" Muslim MLAs out of the assembly "when BJP formed govt" — would create unrest among people and foment communal division. Both Congress and CPM condemned the statement, claiming it was a ploy to divert attention from real issues.
In a complaint registered on Thursday night, Roychaudhuri alleged that Adhikari's remarks "created a sense of insecurity among the minority community and went against the fundamental secular fabric of the country". "I urge the administration to take action against Adhikari, as we fear his statement could cause unrest among a cross-section of society," Roychaudhuri stated in the complaint.
Former Pradesh Congress president Adhir Chowdhury criticised the comment as grossly undemocratic. "Today they have threatened to throw Muslim MLAs out. Tomorrow they might even take their voting rights away. This should be condemned. But the state govt will only issue statements and take political mileage from that," said Chowdhury.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose, too, condemned the statement and questioned its timing, coinciding with Holi and Ramzan. "There are instructions against the observation of Ramzan in states like Uttar Pradesh, and that is a violation of the constitutional rights," Bose said.
CPM's state secretary Md Salim pointed out that Muslim representation in legislative assemblies has been steadily declining across the country. "Surprisingly, the discussion in the assembly is around religion and not issues like crop prices to farmers. Police have not taken any step against such hate speech. A person can belong to the opposition, but no one has the right to throw an elected representative out of the legislative assembly," Salim said.
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