In an unprecedented incident, ruckus broke out in the West Bengal Assembly on the first day of the Budget Session as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, led by LoP Suvendu Adhikari, protested inside the House, before the inaugural speech of the Governor. They raised slogans in the well of the House against the state government over violence in the Municipal polls.

The Governor could not start his inaugural speech for over an hour and requested the LoP to allow him to deliver his speech, following the cultural heritage of the assembly and the country. Despite repeated requests by the Speaker Biman Banerjee, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, Opposition protests continued. The trio urged the Opposition to allow the Governor to deliver his opening speech and the Speaker asked the officials to distribute the speech of the Governor to all the members of the house.

The Governor even tried to leave the house several times amid the ruckus but stayed back following requests by the Chief Minister and the Speaker. On his third attempt to leave, Trinamool MLAs – including Chandrima Bhaatcharya and Sashi Panja – obstructed his path.

After an hour, Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar could read only the first and the last line of his speech. The Chief Minister, coming out of the assembly, lashed out at the Opposition and said, such an incident “is unprecedented in the history of the assembly.”

“It is unprecedented and what happened today is a shame to democracy. I have never seen this in my life. It is an unfortunate incident. The Governor was leaving the House without reading his speech due to continuous protests by the BJP. But had he not read the speech, it would have led to a Constitutional crisis as the budget session starts with the Governor’s speech,” Mamata Banerjee said, claiming “it was pre-planned by the BJP to create such ruckus inside the house. I have made a request to the Governor to stay and read the speech and he obliged.”

The Governor was also seen trying to control the protest and attempted to talk to LoP Suvendu Adhikari. However, the LoP and the BJP MLAs did not pay heed to Governor’s repeated requests. Trinamool Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Partha Chatterjee also urged all (the Opposition MLAs) to go back to their seats. Meanwhile, the Trinamool MLAs also started shouting slogans and shouting.

Later, the Chief Minister went to Raj Bhawan to thank the Governor.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari told media persons that they have protested against the state government for large scale violence and rigging during the Municipal Polls of 108 civic bodies, from Contai to Alipurduar. “Trinamool MLAs have physically assaulted and humiliated the Governor and prevented him from leaving the assembly. We are respectful towards the Governor,” Adhikari said.