Suvendu Adhikari, the head of the opposition, was forewarned by Speaker Biman Banerjee on Wednesday to refrain from using “unconstitutional and disrespectful” language in the Assembly.
After Adhikari and other BJP MLAs criticised Trinamul Congress lawmakers for being “corrupt and dishonest,” Banerjee made the comment.
“I’m cautioning the opposition leader. Such unfounded claims are not allowed in the House. After a verbal spat between the treasury and opposition benches, Banerjee declared that the language used was both unconstitutional and offensive.
Adhikari wasn’t in the chamber when the Speaker delivered his answer, but Banerjee spoke through the BJP’s chief whip Manoj Tigga.
Since a few leaders and ministers of the ruling party were detained in connection with corruption charges, the BJP has been accusing Trinamul of dishonesty. On Wednesday, when the matter came up in the House, BJP members led by Adhikari shouted accusations of corruption against Trinamul officials.
Shortly after Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister, finished speaking to the House on the rising cost of fertilisers, protesters began shouting slogans.
Adhikari claims that the price increase is due to Trinamul leaders’ oversight of the fertilisers’ illicit market sales. He continued by asserting that all Trinamul leaders were dishonest.
Minister Firhad Hakim responded to Adhikari’s accusations by saying it was unfair to declare all of Trinamul corrupt. Hakim claimed that just because “one former minister” had acted improperly, it did not imply that everyone in Trinamul was corrupt without specifically mentioning Partha Chatterjee.
“No one backs him up (Chatterjee)…. But you can’t hold us all accountable (of corruption). There is a limit to our endurance because we are also human, Hakim said.
The CBI had detained Chatterjee, a former state education minister, for his alleged involvement in a hiring scam.
Tigga, a BJP lawmaker from Madarihat, asserted that his party didn’t need to learn anything from those who were responsible for the House’s vandalism. He was alluding to a 2006 incident in which Trinamul’s MLAs vandalised the House’s furniture while it was in the Opposition.
The minister who is currently imprisoned used to instruct us on how to speak politely in the House, Tigga recalled.