BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari suspended for remainder of West Bengal special session

Kolkata: Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari was on Tuesday suspended for the remainder of the special session of the West Bengal Assembly by Speaker Biman Banerjee for allegedly disrupting proceedings convened to debate a motion condemning the alleged harassment of Bengali migrants.

During a discussion on the motion condemning alleged attacks on Bengali-speaking migrants in BJP-ruled states, Adhikari stood up and interrupted Education Minister Bratya Basu for allegedly making 'defamatory' remarks about the Indian Army.

The BJP leader shouted slogans against the TMC government and demanded that Basu's comments be expunged from the proceedings, a request denied by the Speaker.

"I am forced to suspend you for repeatedly interrupting speeches and leaving your seat," Banerjee said, prompting ruling party MLAs to thump their desks in approval.

Talking to PTI later, the Speaker said Adhikari has been suspended for the "remaining days of this (special) session." The special session ends on Thursday. However, there will be a break on September 3, which is a state holiday on account of Karam Puja.

BJP legislators soon staged a walkout, raising slogans such as "We don't want this pro-appeasement Mamata government" and "shame, shame.".

During the debate, Basu alleged that the Army had dismantled a TMC protest pandal near the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road, drawing a parallel with the sacrifices made by those who laid down their lives to defend their mother tongue and identity during the 1952 language movement, in erstwhile East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.

Outside the Assembly gates, Adhikari hit back at the ruling party, claiming he had been "unethically forced out." "I was suspended because I protested against Basu's defamatory remarks against the Indian Army. We want those remarks to be expunged," he told reporters.