WB Assembly Ruckus: Speaker Rejects Governor Dhankhar's Request to Meet

Dhankhar alleged in his letter to the Speaker that members of the ruling TMC were also involved in the ruckus, adding that he was gheraoed by MLAs of the ruling party in the Assembly. Image used for representative purposes. 

(Photo: The Quint) 

West Bengal (WB) Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Tuesday, 8 March, wrote a letter to the Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly Biman Banerjee, requesting him for a meeting within the next three days, following protests by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs during the inaugural session of the House on Monday, 7 March.

"Urged Speaker WBLA for a meeting in next three days in view of unseemly ruckus and chaotic spectacle unfolded in the hallowed precincts of the August WB Assembly on 7 March during Governor's address under article 176 when decorum and propriety nosedived to lowest nadir," the Governor said.

The Speaker, however, rejected the Governor's request to meet within three days, saying that he was preoccupied due to the ongoing Assembly session, news agency ANI reported.

BJP MLAs had on Monday staged a protest in the Assembly alleging violence in the recent civic polls, leading to Governor Dhankhar tabling his inaugural speech instead of delivering it.

Photos of the incident showed the Governor pleading with the MLAs, who had surrounded the Speaker’s podium in protest, to allow the proceedings to begin.

Sanctity of Democracy Outraged: Dhankhar

In his letter on Tuesday, Dhankhar alleged that the “sanctity of the temple of democracy was outraged as never before," and demanded strict action against the perpetrators.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who met Dhankhar on Monday at Raj Bhavan, claimed that the protests by the BJP were “pre-planned”.

Dhankhar, however, alleged in his letter that members of the ruling Trinamool Congress Party (TMC) were also involved in the ruckus, adding that he was gheraoed by MLAs of the ruling party in the Assembly. 

“How ironical that the treasury benches, principal stakeholder in the address of the Governor, were also in overdrive to contribute to the disorder in the House that was already witnessing unruly Opposition protests,” Dhankhar said in the letter.

(With inputs from ANI.)