Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on Friday created a ruckus in the West Bengal legislative assembly, forcing governor Jagdeep Dhankhar to cut his inaugural address short. The leaders raised slogans and carried posters with pictures of alleged victims as the state government was just minutes into his speech. Justifying the disruption of the assembly session, Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of opposition in West Bengal, said that they protested after finding "no mention" of post-poll violence in the speech.
BJP workers have been murdered
"Incidents of (post-poll violence) in Bengal have been barbaric. BJP workers have been murdered; more than 300 women were molested; a few raped," said Adhikari later in the day. "Had no option but to stage a protest after finding no mention of post-poll violence in the governor's speech", he also said. The copies of the speech were circulated among legislators before the official speech. Adhikari further alleged that the governor was "forced" to read out the speech prepared by the state government, led by the Trinamool Congress's Mamata Banerjee. "We don't blame the governor," Adhikari also said, adding that his party wants to hold day-long discussions in the House on post-poll violence and the recently held fake vaccination drive in the city.
During the demonstration, some BJP leaders also came to the well of the assembly to stage a protest. Following the incident, Dhankhar tabled his speech in the House and left from the newly constituted state assembly. The governor was escorted by Speaker Biman Banerjee and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as he left the assembly premises. Meanwhile, reacting to BJP's protest, the TMC said the saffron party has set a new precedent in anarchy. "What they (BJP MLAs) did today is unprecedented and unacceptable in a parliamentary democracy. TMC chief whip Nirmal Ghosh pointed out. According to a news agency PTI, Dhankhar did seek inclusion of the matter in the speech. The request was denied by the state government.
