Kolkata: Nov 27 (IANS) -
Protests marked the West Bengal assembly after Leader of Opposition Surjya
Kanta Mishra's question on naming a township Jyoti Basu Nagar was
"arbitrarily changed".
The trouble started after
the day's proceedings began with the question hour. Mishra complained to
speaker Biman Banerjee the format of the query which he had submitted earlier
had been "arbitrarily changed". The speaker allowed Mishra to read the
question in the format he had submitted, and Minister for Urban Development
Firhad Hakim replied, but the opposition was far from satisfied. Left Front
members held noisy protests.
Mishra accused Hakim of
misleading the house on the status of the New Town Kolkata Development
Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2011, passed during the erstwhile Left Front regime
rechristening New Town Kolkata as Jyoti Basu Nagar. Mishra claimed Hakim had
spoken a lie by saying Governor M.K. Narayanan returned the bill without giving
his assent.
On the contrary, Narayanan
told Left Front MLAs Tuesday he was unaware of it. The Left Front members tore
papers, displayed posters against the government move to withdraw a legislation
naming New Town Kolkata as Jyoti Basu Nagar, and walked into the well of the
house, raising slogans. The speaker continued the business of the house, but
nothing could be heard in the pandemonium, as Left Front lawmakers refused to
heed Banerjee's repeated requests to return to their seats.
The Front lawmakers boycotted
the house proceedings after recess, and staged a mock assembly and sit-in
demonstration in the assembly premises. The treasury benches passed a
resolution in the second half of the day condemning the behaviour of Mishra and
other Front members. "The house strongly condemns the uncivil behaviour,
distasteful comments, and the efforts of the Left Front members to prevent the
speaker and the house proceedings from functioning," it said.
Later, Mishra told reporters
it was a rare instance of a question put forth by a member being
"distorted". "The state government is encouraging manipulation
of questions (unfair means in examination) in schools and colleges and now it
has brought it to the assembly," he said. Mishra said the withdrawal of
the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2011, and its
replacement by a fresh legislation that had no clause naming the township as
"Jyoti Basu Nagar" was the state government's gift on the birth
centenary of the late communist patriarch - who was state chief minister for 23
years - a national record.
Countering Mishra,
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee accused the opposition,
"particularly CPI-M", of creating disorder in the assembly.
Chatterjee contended it was the right of the assembly secretariat to edit
questions if they were too long. "This used to happen during my days as
the leader of the opposition also.
The speaker, sticking to
highest norms of parliamentary behaviour, allowed Mishra to speak, but he
responded by tearing apart the question". "Everything was done in a
planned and motivated manner, led by Mishra. This cannot continue. We want good
debates in the assembly where everybody should participate," he said.
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