Bengal’s House of shame:courtsey Mamata Banerjee

3 MLAs Hospitalized As Left, TMC Come To Blows In Assembly

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: Bengal’s lawmakers dragged the assembly down to the gully pits on Tuesday, choosing fists and cuss words when a debate was denied. During the bedlam in the well of the House, legislators punched each other and a woman CPM MLA was “pulled by the hair” and allegedly “lifted to the treasury benches” by male MLAs.
    Two women MLAs from the CPM and the Trinamool Congress were taken to a hospital and a CPM legislator was hospitalized for head injuries. Speaker Biman Banerjee suspended three CPM MLAs — Nazmul Haque, Susanta Besra and Amjad Hossain — for the rest of the session, triggering cries of bias from the Opposition.
    The dishonour to the House was worse than the unruly scenes in the sixties when Left legislators hurled tomatoes and eggs at the chair and even threw shoes at then governor Dharamvira. But never had members participated in the bedlam so enthusiastically as Becharam Manna and deputy speaker Sonali Guha. Their seniors Firhad Hakim, Partha Chatterjee and Subrata Mukherjee tried to defuse the tension but were no match. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee was not present in the House on Tuesday.
    Trouble broke out soon after the Speaker ruled out discussion on the Left Front’s adjournment notice on chit funds. When the notice was being read, Opposition leader Surya Kanta Mishra protested that it had been “severely edited”. Furious Left members rushed to the Speaker’s podium, shouting slogans, but he ignored them. Security personnel threw a cordon around the Speaker. and a number of Trinamool legislators also ran to the well of the House to shield Banerjee. Soon, women legislators got involved in the melee. As a scuffle ensued, the Speaker adjourned the House and left.
    When Banerjee suspended the three CPM MLAs for disorderly conduct (using foul language against the Speaker, smashing his microphone and tearing papers on his table), parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee lauded him for acting against the CPM’s “goonda raj”. Congress leader Manas Bhunia blamed the ruling party for sparking the violence, adding that the Speaker’s ruling violates the principle of natural justice. CPM MLAs were angry that their comrades were not given a chance to defend themselves. But Chatterjee said the rules of procedure (Section 347, 348) don’t give scope for self-defence.
    As Left members then rushed the Speaker’s chair, deputy speaker Sonali Guha started abusing and threatening CPM’s Susanta Besra. To make matters worse, Trinamool MLA Mahamuda Begum chased CPM’s Debalina Hembram and pulled her by the hair. Some male Trinamool MLAs allegedly joined Mahamuda and dragged Debalina to the benches.
    “Mahamuda Begum pulled me by the hair. Others abused me and some Trinamool members, including ministers, lifted me and took me to the treasury benches,” Debalina alleged. Mahamuda complained of chest pain and was taken to SSKM Hospital. Trinamool’s Pulak Roy is also among the injured.
    The Left came down heavily on the ruling party. “The Speaker was a mute spectator to the Trinamool violence. He watched how Gouranga Chatterjee was beaten up by members of the treasury benches even as he lay helpless. Instead, the Speaker suspended three CPM MLAs without giving them a chance to defend themselves,” said Opposition leader Surjya Kanta Mishra. Congress members blamed Trinamool for the “insecurity of members”. The Congress later called on the governor.

BEDLAM ROCKS ASSEMBLY: (Clockwise from left) Congress MLAs protest outside the assembly hall in Kolkata on Tuesday; CPM legislator Debalina Hembram (left) being taken to a hospital, escorted by Jahanara Khan; a Left Front MLA shows his spectacle broken during the ruckus