Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly, on Thursday called on former defence personnel who were holding a sit-in demonstration here against Mamata Banerjee’s September 1 remarks on the army, likened the chief minister’s behaviour to that of the “tukde-tukde gang” and demanded her resignation.
He went to the protest site although Calcutta High Court had barred any political leader’s visit to the sit-in demonstration.
Asked how he did so, allegedly in violation of the court directive, Adhikari claimed he was there in his capacity as the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
“I have come here not as a leader of any party, but as the state’s leader of the Opposition. So there is no question of disobeying the court order. We honour the judiciary and follow rules…. She (Mamata) is the one who thinks that this is a separate nation and she is its Prime Minister. Her anti-national attitude is clear as daylight,” said the BJP’s Nandigram MLA.
In his speech, he tore into the Bengal chief minister.
“No, the army did not run away from you (Mamata), the bedbugs (the ruling party) ran away from Mayo Road and went to Dorina Crossing when they saw the army… you are anti-national, anti-army. Your behaviour is the same as the tukde-tukde gang,” he said.
Tukde-tukde gang is a political catchphrase often resorted to as a pejorative by the saffron ecosystem to refer to groups critical of the BJP regime, accusing them of supporting sedition and secessionism.
On September 1, the Trinamool Congress chief had accused the BJP and defence minister Rajnath Singh of playing a “dirty political game” by misusing the army, after troops dismantled a stage set up by her party at the Maidan to protest against the saffron regime’s “Bengali-phobia”. Mamata had, however, repeatedly underscored her love and respect for the armed forces and acknowledged that the army was not at fault.
The stage, near the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road, was erected in July-end following Mamata’s call for protests from the Martyrs’ Day rally dais. The party had been demonstrating at the venue on weekends for a month. She had announced protests in every block and ward the following day against the BJP’s alleged misuse of the army, and shifted the protest site closer to the Dorina Crossing in Esplanade and made the Bhasha Andolon (Language Movement) events a daily affair.
“Around 200 army personnel started running away as I arrived. I asked ‘Why are you running, you are my friends.’ It is not your fault. You did it because of the BJP and the defence minister…. Undemocratic and unethical. The BJP wants to misuse the army for its own purposes — a sad message,” she had said.
A section of former defence personnel had approached Calcutta High Court after failing to get police permission to hold a demonstration against the chief minister’s remarks on the army. The court had granted them conditional permission, specifically stating no political party leader should come to or stay on their stage.
“The Indian army is not afraid of anyone. China is afraid of it, Pakistan is falling at its feet. It can never be that they will run away on seeing Mamata Banerjee… he has dared to insult our army, the people will give her a fitting response for this,”
said Adhikari.
“She really ought to resign…. This is not the first time she has insulted our armed forces and questioned their valour or sacrifice,” he added.
The row over the army — with a certain interpretation of education minister Bratya Basu’s remarks in the House adding fuel to the fire — had caused a heated session in the Assembly last week, which saw the suspension of Adhikari by Speaker Biman Banerjee.
HC petition
Adhikari on Thursday filed a contempt petition in the high court against Speaker Banerjee for allowing Mamata to enter the Assembly premises with her security personnel, which violated a court directive. The case is likely to come up for hearing next week.
Recently, during the hearing of a case before Justice Amrita Sinha, the Assembly’s secretary had informed the court that henceforth, security personnel of neither MLAs nor ministers would be allowed on their premises. The judge had disposed of a case by recording the secretary’s decision.