Bharatiya Janata Party MLA and leader of Opposition (LoP) in West Bengal assembly Suvendu Adhikari, along with three party colleagues — Agnimitra Pal, Bankim Ghosh, and Biswanath Karak — were suspended by Bengal assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee on February 17 following a ruckus in the House over their demand for a discussion on alleged obstacles faced by some educational institutions in the state in organizing Saraswati Puja earlier this month.
Pal proposed to introduce a motion and a discussion on alleged intimidation related to the organisation of Saraswati Puja. The Speaker allowed the introduction of the motion, but refused a discussion. In protest, BJP MLAs led by Adhikai walked up to the well of the house, tore up business papers, and threw those away. After this, the four MLAs, including LoP Adhikari, staged a walkout from the house. Trinamool Congress leader Nirmal Ghosh proposed that the four BJP MLAs be suspended and the Speaker obliged.
After walking out of the assembly, Adhikari and the other three BJP MLAs addressed media personnel waiting outside the Vidhan Sabha. A 16.50-minute-long recorded footage of the BJP MLAs interacting with the media was posted on BJP West Bengal’s official YouTube page. During his address to the media, LoP Adhikari made several controversial comments including comparing the Trinamool Congress regime to the Muslim League. He also stated that the Trinamool government was “anti-Hindu” and a “government of the Mollahs”, and he and his party MLAs prided themselves on being voted in by Hindus.
A Few Excerpts From Suvendu Adhikari’s Media Address:
0:00: Worse than the Muslim League… Whatever the bribe-hungry molla Yunus is carrying out in Bangladesh, Mamata Banerjee and her party are replicating here. The female members of our party proposed an adjournment motion according to the business and rules, they also presented the same to you (the press) in detail. …The unprecedented jihadi attack by TMC-affiliated Muslim leaders, a matter which has also reached the high court, and Saraswati puja had to be conducted in educational institutions in the presence of armed policemen and senior IPS officers. So many obstacles were deliberately created to disrupt the puja — something unheard of even during British rule.
This story was originally published in altnews.in. Read the full story here.