BJP MLAs stage walk out from Assembly for not allowing motion on attack during festivals

BJP MLAs walk out of West Bengal Assembly after Speaker denies adjournment motion on religious freedom issues.

Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs staged a walkout from the West Bengal Assembly on Friday (November 29, 2024) after the Speaker refused to allow them to table an adjournment motion alleging that the people do not have freedom to practice religious practices.

The BJP legislators led by leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari also raised that there were attacks on different puja pandals and immersion processions and wanted discussions on the issue.

Speaker Biman Banerjee rejected the proposal and said such issues had come up in discussion over the past two days and thus it cannot be allowed.

The BJP MLAs led by Mr. Adhikari held protests in the House holding posters and later walked out of the Assembly. For several minutes they held posters and raised slogans in the house.

“Our proposal had nothing which amounted to an attack on another religion or any political party, but we were not allowed to even read it,” Mr. Adhikari. The motion by the BJP referred to instances where there were hindrances to observing festivals during the recently concluded festival season and that the government has failed to prevent such attacks.

The Leader of Opposition said that if BJP MLAs are not allowed to speak on the issue then where will they speak. He said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has made reference to Waqf Bills to “appease her vote bank” whereas the BJP legislators were not allowed to raise the issue of “Hindu population” on whose vote they have been elected to the State Assembly.

Nirmal Ghosh, the Trinamool Congress chief whip in the State Assembly said that the BJP legislators are free to raise their issues but cannot hold posters in the House. The move by the Opposition comes ahead of a resolution in the State Assembly by the MLAs of the ruling party on the Wakf Bills tabled in the Parliament.