Kolkata:
Suvendu Adhikari, Bangladeshi leader of the opposition, was today saved from suspension by the General Assembly through the intervention of Prime Minister Mamata Banerjee, who apologized on his behalf following his remarks about the speaker. However, the Chief Minister didn’t pull a fist when he condemned the behavior of her assistant-turned-political rival.
“What a disgraceful behavior from the leader of the opposition. This is what they always do. They use this kind of language everywhere. Also against us. I ask for forgiveness on his behalf. Forgive him, forgive them,” she said at the beginning. of her speech at the assembly, which was convened for the reactions of the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to the Governor’s speech to the Legislative Assembly.
Mr. Adhikari had made allegations of misuse of funds, and against senior bureaucrats and police officers, which Speaker Biman Banerjee did not allow to put on paper. This had enraged Mr. Adhikari who lost his cool and led a strike of BJP MLAs.
While his exact words could not be heard over the noise of BJP MLAs, Mr Banerjee said that uttering defamation about the speaker’s functioning invites a privilege movement. “I reserve the right to introduce the privilege motion against the leader of the opposition,” he added.
The strike was followed by the Chief Minister’s speech. Later, when Deputy Chief Whip Tapas Roy took the initiative to suspend Mr Adhikari until February 20, the speaker quoted Ms Banerjee’s request to pardon the leader of the opposition.
Asked about the chief minister’s apology on his behalf, Mr. Adhikari said, “Let their common sense sink in to them. Listen to me. If they listen, it won’t be bad for Bengal, but good”.
The prime minister, he added, encouraged her MLAs to disrupt his speech. “They created an impossible situation to prevent me from speaking,” he added.
“At the beginning of my speech, I said that our governor should have followed the path chosen by the governor of Tamil Nadu. He had refused to speak what was written down by the state government,” he added.
He also criticized the Speaker and questioned his impartiality. “It’s not just about removing things from the record. If the Speaker decides what should go into my speech – in that case there is doubt about his impartiality,” he said. However, the BJP MLAs, he added, have decided that “we will follow the rules and continue with our grievances.”
Mamata Banerjee described Mr Adhikari’s attitude as “destructive”. “Can an opposition leader say things like that about the ED and the CBI and dictate where they’re going to do raids? Is he allowed to say such things about the governor?’ she said in her address.
She also ridiculed the BJP for its now retracted announcement asking people to hug cows on Valentine’s Day. “They want us to hug cows on Valentine’s Day. What if a cow mows someone down? Who’s responsible? They have to give everyone an insurance policy. Then they have to ask people to do it,” Ms Banerjee said.
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