Kolkata, 12  June

BJP MLAs staged a walk-out from the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday after the Speaker refused to admit adjournment motions moved by them over violence in Murshidabad and Maheshtala.

Speaker Biman Banerjee charged the saffron party legislators with not following the decorum of the House, while the BJP accused him of functioning like a TMC worker.

The BJP legislators came to the House wearing saffron headbands and scarves.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and three others moved the adjournment motion on the Murshidabad violence of April that left three people dead, while his party colleague Puna Bhengra was the prime mover - along with three others - of the other motion on Wednesday's violence in Mahestala near here, where police personnel were attacked by a mob.

Speaker Biman Banerjee rejected both motions stating that the Murshidabad violence is sub-judice and the issues related to the Mahestala clash could not be discussed in the House as an adjournment motion.

BJP MLAs protested the Speaker's decision and raised slogans against the TMC government. They also waved printouts of purported images of attacks on places of worship.

Led by Adhikari, the BJP legislators then walked out of the assembly and marched to Raj Bhavan. They discussed the state's situation with Governor CV Ananda Bose.

The Speaker, meanwhile, continued to run the legislative proceedings.

State ministers Chandrima Bhattacharya and Shashi Panja condemned the conduct of the BJP legislators, claiming that waving saffron flags and raising slogans like "Hindu-birodhi sarkar" (anti-Hindu government) in the House were "inappropriate and unparliamentary".

The Speaker later told reporters in his chamber that the motion on Murshidabad was a sub-judice matter where police investigation was on, while the other one was not that important.

"However, I had given scope to them (BJP MLAs) to refer to this in the mention hour. But they started raising different issues as their only intent was to stall the assembly proceedings," he said.

Banerjee alleged that the opposition legislators tried to stall the proceedings, but they failed and then staged the walk-out.

He said the Speaker's job is to facilitate running of the House, not to stall it.

Accusing the BJP MLAs of "not adhering to rules and procedures of parliamentary democracy," he said, "Even if I tell their leaders like Shankar Ghosh to ensure his MLAs follow certain decorum, I am not sure whether his words will be heeded."

Asked if he had talked to Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on the issue, Banerjee said, "Yes I have. But he himself seems to be in an uncontrollable state."

After the walkout of BJP MLAs, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobhandeb Chatterjee said, "In my 35 years of experience as a member of this august House, I had never witnessed such blatant protest flagging religion."

He said, "It seems a competition... a race... to flaunt one's Hindu identity, is on among them to demonstrate how big a Hindu one is," he said.

Chatterjee asserted that the Speaker showed a lot of patience during BJP protests and refrained from taking any disciplinary action.

"The opposition plays an important role in the temple of democracy. Even if they deviate from procedures and conduct, I still don't want to throttle their voice. But I cannot go beyond rules," the Speaker said.

BJP Chief Whip Shankar Ghosh told PTI: "He is acting as a TMC functionary and lowered the dignity of the role of Speaker. Several of his actions in the past will testify to that. If attacks on people by some jihadi elements cannot be taken up for discussion in the assembly, which issues can figure in discussion then?"

The House was adjourned till 11am on 13 June.