The sudden illness of a TMC MLA at the lobby of the Assembly prompted Opposition legislators to help him in a rare show of solidarity on Monday, minutes before squabbling MLAs were allegedly attacked by marshals inside the House.
Trinamool Congress legislator from Hooghly’s Balagarh and Dalit author Manoranjan Byapari collapsed on the marble floor of the lobby around 10.50am, just when MLAs were heading towards the Assembly hall.
Nawsad Siddique, the ISF MLA who was standing close to Byapari, immediately rushed to help and lifted the leader from the floor. Several other members joined in, helping to place the ailing MLA on a sofa.
BJP MLA from Kulti, Ajay Kumar Poddar, who is also a doctor, promptly arrived at the spot and instructed others on immediate measures to stabilise Byapari.
“I rescued the senior TMC MLA, and a BJP MLA and doctor Poddar Saheb gave him primary treatment. The scenario changed completely after I entered the House. I saw how the marshals used force on my beloved colleagues, and Shankar Ghosh (chief Opposition whip and Siliguri MLA) fell on the ground. It was a stark contrast to what happened in the lobby just half an hour earlier,” said Nawsad.
He said while both the TMC and BJP MLAs were aggressive inside the House, the use of force by marshals was unacceptable.
“If we are attacked by marshals even inside the House, where else can we go with our demands?” asked the only non-BJP, non-TMC MLA.
A source said that along with MLAs, a doctor and medical staff from the Assembly assisted in providing preliminary treatment to Byapari until an ambulance arrived to take him to SSKM Hospital. Byapari is stable, he added.
A TMC MLA said what the lobby witnessed was the true spirit of the Bengal Assembly. "What happened inside the House was part of the politics,” he said.