Five Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs were suspended after a scuffle broke out between them and Trinamool Congress legislators in the West Bengal Assembly on Monday, reported India Today.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, along with four other BJP MLAs Dipak Burman, Shankar Ghosh, Manoj Tigga and Narahari Mahato have been suspended for all Assembly sessions this year, PTI reported.
A video posted by BJP’s Information Technology Cell head Amit Malviya showed the MLAs pushing and shoving each other inside the House.
BJP MLA and Chief Whip Tigga was assaulted in the ruckus, Malviya alleged. Trinamool Congress MLA Asit Majumdar also claimed that he was injured after Adhikari punched him.
The development took place after the BJP members staged a protest against the violence in West Bengal’s Birbhum district, where eight persons were burnt to death on March 22 following the murder of a local Trinamool Congress leader, reported The Indian Express.
As the Assembly session began on Monday, BJP legislators entered the Well of the House and shouted slogans against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
“MLAs are not safe even inside the Assembly,” Adhikari said, according to PTI. “At least 8-10 of our legislators were beaten up, including Chief Whip Manoj Tigga, by some TMC MLAs, as we demanded that the CM make a statement in the House on the law and order issue.”
Adhikari alleged that police personnel, in plain clothes were brought in to beat up the BJP MLAs, NDTV reported.
The BJP’s state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar described the incident as a “new low for democracy in West Bengal”.
“Political violence, murders, rapes and appeasement is increasing in Bengal under the Mamata Banerjee government with each passing day,” he tweeted.
Trinamool Congress leader Firhad Hakim, however, said that the BJP was “staging a drama” to create chaos in the Assembly, PTI reported.
On March 21 night, Trinamool Congress leader Bhadu Sheikh, the panchayat head of Barshal village, had succumbed to his injuries after attackers hurled crude bombs at him. After this, violence had erupted in Bogtui village and several houses, including two belonging to the men accused of Sheikh’s murder, were attacked and set on fire with petrol bombs.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into the case.
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