Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari with party MLAs holds a protest during in Kolkata on March 11, 2025.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The protests over the suspension of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators from the West Bengal Assembly precipitated a communal diatribe on Wednesday (March 12, 2025), with the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the State Assembly Suvendu Adhikari threatening to “throw the Muslim MLAs outside the Assembly premises” when the BJP comes to power.
The remark by the LoP did not go down well with Muslim MLAs of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), including Humayun Kabir and Siddiqullah Chowdhury, who threatened Mr. Adhikari with dire consequences if he did not withdraw his comment.
“I dare the LoP to withdraw the statement in 72 hours or else the 42 MLAs (Muslim MLAs of the TMC) will make him understand the consequences in the Assembly,” Mr. Kabir, the Bharatpur MLA, said.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, while speaking inside the House, accused the BJP of importing “fake Hinduism” to the State. Members of the Treasury Benches tabled a censure motion against the remark by Mr. Adhikari on “throwing Muslim MLAs out”.
BJP legislators protested against the motion, maintaining that the Leader of the Opposition remained suspended and had not made the statement inside the House.
BJP MLAs dressed in black clothes on Wednesday to protest against the suspension of Mr. Adhikari and four other MLAs. While Mr. Adhikari and three other BJP MLAs were suspended by Speaker Biman Banerjee on February 19, another BJP MLA was suspended by the Speaker for creating a ruckus in the House earlier this week.
The BJP’s Chief Whip Sankar Ghosh, who led the protests in the State Assembly, later expressed fears for Mr. Adhikari’s life, while speaking to journalists.
BJP MLAs walked out of the House and held a dharna at the Assembly’s gates.
Mr. Adhikari said he had informed the Assembly Secretariat that if anything happened to him inside the Assembly premises, the Speaker would be responsible.
While speaking inside the House, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of playing the “Hindu card”. “How could someone have the courage to say that he will throw Muslim MLAs outside the Assembly?” she said.
The CM also said that she had spoken to leaders of her own party, including Firhad Hakim, who had made objectionable remarks. Without referring to Mr. Adhikari, Ms. Banerjee said that he made such remarks “to be appointed as the BJP State president”.
Mr. Adhikari, however, continued to target the Chief Minister, and called her “anti-Hindu”. He said that Ms. Banerjee had called the Maha Kumbh ‘Mrityur Kumbh’, and had not participated in the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
“She will suffer the fate of (former Delhi Chief Minister) Arvind Kejriwal. She is upset with me because I have defeated her at Nandigram (in the 2021 Assembly election) by a margin of 1,956 votes. She will lose Bhawanipore (the Chief Minister’s constituency in south Kolkata) also (in 2026),” Mr. Adhikari said.
The LoP, who has in the past called on his party to do away with the ‘Minority Morcha’ because “Muslims did not vote for the BJP”, claimed that in 2026, none of the Hindu MLAs of the Trinamool Congress would be elected, and “only Muslim MLAs will be able to win the Assembly election”.
Citing the case of Delhi Assembly Speaker Vijendra Gupta, who was forced outside the House when the Aam Admi Party (AAP) was in power in the national capital , Mr. Adhikari said that the Muslim MLAs of the TMC would suffer a similar fate when the BJP came to power in West Bengal.
Congress leader and former MLA Ali Imran Ramz lodged a complaint against Mr. Adhikari for “communal remarks” at the Chakulia Police Station in Uttar Dinajpur district.
Published – March 12, 2025 10:18 pm IST