Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari suspended from Assembly over Army row
Adhikari suspended for rest of special session after protesting against Bratya Basu's remarks comparing Army action to Pakistan military's 1971 Dhaka killings
Speaker of West Bengal Assembly Biman Banerjee on Tuesday (September 2) suspended Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari for the rest of the special session of the Assembly as a row over alleged politicisation of the Army dominated the proceedings.
During a debate on a motion condemning the alleged harassment of Bengali migrants in BJP-ruled states, Education Minister Bratya Basu referred to the Army’s dismantling of the Trinamool Congress’s protest stage set up at the base of the Gandhi statue at central Kolkata’s Mayo Road.
Also read: Indian Army dismantling TMC protest stage in Kolkata becomes political flashpoint
Bratya’s Bangladesh reference
“Yesterday (September 1), when the Army dismantled our protest stage, it reminded me of the March 25, 1971 killings in Dhaka by the Pakistani Army,” the minister said.
He further alleged that the Army had taken a politically motivated action by dismantling the Trinamool’s stage.
The remarks triggered strong objections from Adhikari and other BJP MLAs. The Speaker repeatedly warned Adhikari against disrupting the proceedings before suspending him as he continued to shout slogans.
All BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly in protest.
Also read: Harassed in BJP states, Bengali migrants return home to empty job promises
Row over Army truck
The ongoing political war in the state involving the Army took a new turn when the Kolkata Traffic Police intercepted an Army truck for “dangerous” driving.
The truck suddenly took a right turn on a road where such a turn is not allowed, narrowly avoiding a collision with the oncoming convoy of Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma, police said. The truck was later released but a case was registered against the Army personnel driving it for violating traffic rule, police said.
The incident, however, triggered a political controversy, with Union minister and former state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar taking serious exception to the police’s action, alleging the incident was an attempt to defame the army. The BJP also hit the streets demanding Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s reaction to this “insult” to the Army.
TMC spokesperson Jayprakash Majumdar, on the other hand, argued that traffic rules apply to everyone and the Army cannot be an exception.