Kolkata: A heated argument broke out in the Assembly on Friday during the discussion of the state budget, when BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul allegedly made controversial remarks over the allocation of the Minority Development Department and grants for madrasas.
A verbal duel was triggered when Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Department minister Firhad Hakim protested against Paul’s remarks. The third day of the Assembly’s Budget Session witnessed chaotic scenes as Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLAs also protested Paul’s alleged comment that budgetary allocations for madrasas might foster the growth of anti-national elements.
Paul alleged that the TMC government was handing over guns to some belonging to the minority community, and she asked why doctors are not allegedly being produced from the madrasas.
Firhad Hakim protested the statement, stressing that minorities are an asset to the country, not criminals.
Later, Speaker Biman Banerjee removed the controversial part of Agnimitra’s statement from the assembly’s proceedings. Banerjee also warned Paul against hurting the sentiment of any community.
Later, while speaking to reporters, senior state minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury launched a scathing attack on Agnimitra, saying, “What Agnimitra has done is unconstitutional. She should apologise in the assembly. Such people don’t know the history of India. They are not aware of the democratic system. They don’t know what secularism is. Such women should be expelled from the country.
Paul, earlier in the day, criticised the state government for its “minority appeasement policy”. Presenting statistics, she claimed that while the Left Front government had allocated Rs 472 crore for minority development and madrasa education, the current government has increased it to more than Rs 4,000 crore. The BJP MLA questioned why, despite an almost twelve-fold increase in allocation, there was no real development of that community.
Trinamool Congress MLAs raised slogans and came down from their seats to rush to the well of the floor of the House to protest Paul’s comments, while lawmakers from the opposition saffron camp shouted counter slogans in support of Paul.
Trinamool Congress MLA and Minister Udayan Guha and Opposition Leader Suvendu Adhikari got into a war of words as well. As Adhikari praised the Odisha government, Guha said that people from Bengal are being tortured in Odisha.
Adhikari then alleged that Guha had called his father a “thief”. Guha then said that Adhikari is the son of Sisir Adhikari, but Adhikari often claims Narendra Modi as the guardian.