WB Assembly convenes for monsoon session adjourned after offering condolences to Pahalgam victims

    Kolkata, Jun 9 (PTI) The West Bengal Assembly convened for the monsoon session on Monday, and was adjourned for the day after offering condolences to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack.
    When the House assembled, Speaker Biman Bandyopadhyay condoled the deaths of 26 people, mostly tourists, who were killed by terrorists in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22.
    Obituary references were also made over the deaths of renowned Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar, and TMC’s Tehatta MLA Tapas Saha and Kaliganj MLA Nasiruddin Ahmed.
    Senior ministers Sovandeb Chattopadhyay and Chandrima Bhattacharya, TMC chief whip Nirmal Ghosh, BJP chief whip Shankar Ghosh, senior BJP leader Ashok Lahiri, Indian Secular Front MLA Naushad Siddique were among those present from both treasury and opposition benches as the Speaker made obituary references. Everyone observed a one-minute silence.
    The full-fledged legislative business will commence on Tuesday with a resolution condemning the Pahalgam attack and saluting the armed forces slated to be tabled on that day.
    However, the name 'Operation Sindoor' will not be directly referred to in the resolution, a senior TMC leader said.
    The BJP has, however, insisted on mentioning the name 'Operation Sindoor' in the discussion, Shankar Ghosh said.
    Meanwhile, voicing protest over not including names of the two victims of Murshidabad riots in the condolence message, around 30 BJP MLAs later offered condolences to the father-son duo on the assembly premises after the House was adjourned for the day.
    Ghosh, who led the party protest in front of the stairs of the assembly building, said it was regrettable and shameful that the state did not think it proper to include the names of Hargobinda Das and Chandan Das, who were brutally murdered in front of their house in Jafrabad locality in Murshidabad on April 12.
    "Will the assembly, which is a temple of democracy, not refer to the brutal death of two of its citizens just because they were Hindus? Why could their names not be included in the official condolence along with the Pahalgam victims? This is unfortunate," he said.
    Ghosh then proceeded to read aloud a note drafted by his party which condoled the deaths of the father-son duo at the hands of rioters and unequivocally demanded punishment for those responsible for their brutal killing.
    TMC legislator from Bharatpur Humayun Kabir said, "Every death is unfortunate and the perpetrators should be punished. But not every incident of killing can be included in the obituary reference by the Speaker. There are certain well-established legislative procedures."
    Three persons were killed -- two by hacking and one in firing -- during the riots in various areas of Murshidabad district during anti-Waqf (Amendment) Act protests on April 11-12.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)