Meanwhile, Congress MLA Pratima Rajak claimed that she was molested by security officials who pulled her saree.
Leader of the Opposition and Congress MLA Abdul Mannan had to be hospitalised following a scuffle with him and security officials of the West Bengal state assembly today. As the proposed West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Amendment Bill 2017 was about to be passed today, Mannan along with other MLAs – both Congress and Left Front – entered the house carrying placards and wearing jackets with pictures of the vandalism carried out by TMC leaders at the state Assembly on November 30, 2006 protesting against the police barring entry of the then MP Mamata Banerjee to Singur.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA Pratima Rajak claimed that she was molested by security officials. "The security (officials) pulled me by my saree and tried to kick me," Rajak, the MLA from Burwan, told reporters.
The West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was later passed in the House and the Speaker asked the assembly secretary to take note of the benches which were damaged by opposition MLAs.
State Assembly speaker Biman Banerjee said he would not allow members to enter with such posters and asked them to take off the jackets. When Mannan refused to leave, the speaker suspended him for two days. Mannan still didn’t want to leave and squatted in the Well of the house. Security officials of Assembly had to force him out of the house which followed a scuffle. Later he fell ill and had to be removed in a stretcher. He was carried out in an ambulance and admitted to the ICU of GD Hospital on Lenin Sarani.
Hospital sources said that few months ago he had developed a partial heart blockage. A team of four doctors has been formed to look after Mannan. “Today his blood pressure was detected to be very high, has a complete heart block and has sustained external injury on his left calf and ankle. We have fitted a temporary pacemaker and later when a cardiologist arrives he will decide when can a pacemaker be implanted,” said a senior official of the hospital.
"Mannan's condition is presently stable but he is still in the ICU," senior state Congress leader Amitava Chakraborty said.
Marshal of the house, Debabrata Mukherjee said that under the instruction of the speaker they tried to force Mannan out of the house but he resisted and along with other MLAs, they engaged in a scuffle as a result of which 11 security personnel had been injured.
Three TMC MLAs – Dr Manas Bhunia, Dr Sashi Panja and Sudarshan Ghosh Dastidar – upon the instruction of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee paid a visit to Mannan. “Doctors are checking him. A battery of tests are being run. We will know his condition once the test results arrive,” Dr Bhunia said.
Congress and Left Front MLAs together staged a walkout of the house. It was found out that the parties will boycott the next two days of the budget session as a mark of protest. Finance minister Dr Amit Mitra will present the budget at the assembly on February 10, at 3 pm.
State Congress president Adhir Chowdhury condemned the incident and said that the party will put up protest programmes outside the assembly.
Left leaders too will organise a rally tomorrow at 5 pm from Esplanade in central Kolkata to Moulali crossing. After the incident, in the absence of Opposition MLAs, the bill was passed by the ruling TMC.
State parliamentary affairs minister Dr Partha Chatterjee said referred to today’s incident as ‘indecent behaviour of some of the Congress MLAs joined by some Left MLAs’. “The bill has been passed and will be implemented after procedural work. The bill will ensure that none of the government or private property is damaged by rioting public,” Dr Chatterjee said.
Left MLA Sujan Chakraborty said that it was a draconian law. “It was a conspiracy which was pre-planned to create such a situation so that the draconian bill was passed without any Opposition leaders present in the house,” he said.
Earlier today during the discussion on the governor’s speech Mamata referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ‘Gabbar Singh’ the ferocious villain of Hindi film ‘Sholay’. "Recently there had been newspapers reports where leaders of your party had threatened that our leaders would be arrested in the near future. We are not afraid. You may arrest all of us. It is similar to telling a child to go to sleep or else Gabbar Singh will come and get him,” she said.
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