West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari led a march of BJP MLAs from the assembly to Raj Bhawan on Thursday in protest of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s ‘mrityu Kumbh’ remark. They demanded immediate intervention of Governor C.V. Ananda Bose into the matter.
The BJP legislators appealed to the governor to tell Speaker Biman Banerjee to have “mrityu Kumbh” removed from the official records of the assembly. “Shyama Prasad Mookerjee's Bengal should not have that word in the assembly,” LoP Adhikari told the media after meeting the state’s constitutional head.
He further said that Governor Bose has called Mahakumbh the “Mrityunjoy Mahakumbh”. “It means that we can also win over death at the Mahakumbh. This is our Sanatani faith,” the leader of the opposition said, accusing the chief minister of showing no concern or remorse after “hurting the sentiments of Hindus”.
The Nandigram MLA also spoke about the recent suspension of four BJP MLAs, including himself, from the ongoing budget session in the assembly. He alleged that anyone who speaks against the chief minister faces either suspension or a breach of privilege motion.
On Thursday, a breach of privilege motion was passed by TMC’s Chandrima Bhattacharya, the state finance minister, against actor and BJP MLA Hiranmoy Chattopadhyay, allegedly for misleading the assembly.
The legislator from Kharagpur, who is popularly known as Hiran, alleged a day before that the West Bengal government had won around 40 ‘SKOCH’ awards since 2020 in exchange for cash.
In her motion, which was accepted by the speaker, Bhattacharya claimed that the BJP MLA had failed to submit any document to support his claim. Hiran had claimed that he had made his statement based on the CAG report.
In another development in the assembly on Thursday, the BJP MLA from Dabgram Fulbari, Sikha Chatterjee, raised the issue of a separate state for the northern parts of West Bengal.
“This is not just my opinion. It is the voice of the people of North Bengal. They want North Bengal to be separate because they feel they have been deprived for years. As a representative of the people of North Bengal, I am bound to raise their voice,” she said.