Key Points
BJP MLA Hiran Chatterjee's speech abruptly cut off
One legislator suspended, two others forced out
Protesters claim government suppressing truth
As the BJP legislators protested on the floor of the house, one party legislator, Dipak Barman from the Falataka Assembly constituency in Alipurduar district, was suspended from the house for the day. As the protests by the BJP legislators continued, the Speaker of the House, Biman Bandopadhyay, called the Marshal of the Assembly and forced two other party MLAs—Shankar Ghosh from Siliguri Assembly constituency in Darjeeling district and Manoj Kumar Oraon from Kumargram Assembly constituency in Alipurduar—out of the house.
Thereafter, the BJP legislators staged a walkout from the house and started protesting at the Assembly lawn outside, shouting slogans. Trouble started while BJP’s legislator from Kharagpur (Sadar) constituency in West Midnapore district and actor-turned-politician Hiran Chatterjee was participating in the debate on budgetary allocations for certain state government departments on the floor of the house. As Chatterjee raised some questions about the advertising policies of the state government, the Speaker stopped him and told him that there was no point in raising such issues on the floor of the house.
Hiran Chatterjee countered and said that the Speaker had no authority to decide on what subject he would speak about in the house. Chatterjee also alleged that influenced persons were included in commissions related to public service, resulting in the general public being deprived of those services. The Speaker again asked him to refrain from making such statements. Chatterjee reacted once more, asserting that the Speaker had no authority to dictate him in such a manner.
Subsequently, the connection to his microphone was switched off, which the BJP legislators claimed occurred before the expiry of the time allotted to him for participating in the debate. This led to the protest of BJP MLAs. Later, the Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, who is currently under suspension from the house for a month, reached the Assembly premises and told reporters that Chatterjee’s microphone was disconnected because he was revealing truths about the functioning of the state government on the floor of the house.
“It is a fact that the state government received so-called international awards for different developmental schemes by paying money. Hiran was revealing those on the floor of the house, and so he was stopped from speaking,” the Leader of the Opposition stated.
