BJP calls for a discussion on the suspension of a jailed minister and organizes an assembly walkout

On Thursday, opposition BJP lawmakers staged a walkout from the West Bengal Assembly, calling for a discussion on Jyotipriyo Mallick, a TMC MLA and jailed West Bengal Minister, to be suspended.

After Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay denied their motion to discuss Mallick’s suspension from the House due to his arrest in a money laundering case connected to the ration distribution scam, all thirty or so MLAs from the saffron party who were present left the Assembly hall.

Two days after senior party leader Suvendu Adhikari was suspended for the whole winter session of the House due to accusations that he made offensive remarks against the speaker and caused a disturbance in the House, BJP MLAs Shankar Ghosh and Agnimitra Paul among others brought the motion.

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Bandyopadhyay responded to the demands of the BJP leaders by saying that the matter could not be discussed in the House.

On October 27, Mallick was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate in a PMLA case related to the ration scam. “The House’s dignity has been diminished by the arrest of a state cabinet member and a people’s representative about a money laundering case. We demand that the minister not be permitted to serve as a legislator until his innocence is established both by the investigating body and by the court,” Ghosh stated.

The BJP leader said, “We demand the issue figure in the assembly as no such step has been taken by the speaker and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee against Mallick even a month after his arrest.” Ghosh responded, “We will step up our protests in different forms inside the House,” when asked about the BJP’s next move to push for the demand. However, he did not provide any further details.

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Legislators from the ruling TMC and BJP yelled at one another in the House’s chambers after it adjourned for the day, calling each other “chor chor” (thieves). Ministers Firhad Hakim, Chandrima Bhattacharya, and Aroop Biswas led TMC legislators in their second day of protesting at B R Ambedkar’s base, while Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari led BJP MLAs. Between them were plainclothes policemen and assembly security guards.

The TMC protested what it said were attempts by the BJP government at the federal level to undermine the Constitution and cease providing West Bengal with central allocations. When the TMC led protests on Wednesday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee presided over a similar scene.

On Thursday, Bhattacharya chastised the BJP lawmakers, calling their actions despicable and insensitive, diminishing the House’s honour.

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We planned our protests and informed the Assembly secretariat of our intention to oppose the Center’s discriminatory treatment of the state and its citizens. But Adhikari’s BJP MLAs are holding demonstrations and yelling offensive slogans, she said.

The “counter-protests,” according to BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh, were required because the TMC has been silencing the opposition by denying them space in the legislature and making derogatory and personal remarks about the opposition leader.