BJP MLAs on Friday staged a walkout from West Bengal Assembly following a chaotic half-hour of heated exchanges during the debate on the Netaji Subhas University of Sports and Entrepreneurship Bill, 2025.
The uproar began after BJP Chief Whip Shankar Ghosh rose to speak on the Bill, shortly after it was tabled by Education Minister Bratya Basu.
Minister Babul Supriyo interrupted Ghosh, questioning why TMC legislators should listen to him when he and fellow BJP MLAs had walked out during Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya’s reply in the previous day’s Question Hour.
Supporting Supriyo, over 100 TMC legislators stood on their feet even as Speaker Biman Banerjee allowed Ghosh to continue his speech.
"Yesterday, I had to expunge your and other BJP MLAs’ statements because you left while the minister was replying. That was an insult to the House. But as I want the House to function, I would like you to speak," Banerjee said.
However, several TMC leaders, including Chief Whip Nirmal Ghosh, Ministers Aroop Biswas, Chandrima Bhattacharya and Supriyo and others continued to protest the conduct of Ghosh and other BJP leaders.
Though the Speaker tried to pacify the agitated TMC members, the bedlam continued, and around 20 BJP MLAs walked out of the House.
Ghosh told reporters on the Assembly premises that the voice of the opposition was being muzzled, and this showed the intolerance of the ruling dispensation.
"My name had been enlisted as a speaker for the debate. I wanted to voice my views. But the authoritarian TMC does not want democracy to function. They did not allow the opposition to speak, and the Speaker did not take any action," he said. (This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)