BJP lawmakers cried foul inside and outside the House at Speaker Biman Banerjee’s decision to recommend to the privilege committee a breach of privilege motion against the leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, for his allegedly defamatory and untrue remarks against chief minister Mamata Banerjee outside the Assembly.

The BJP, while repeatedly asserting that Adhikari was correct, asked why his remarks made outside the Assembly gates would be considered for such a motion. The BJP MLAs noted that exactly a day before, the Speaker had ruled out the relevance of minister and Calcutta mayor Firhad Hakim’s remark (calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi a “coward” for agreeing to ceasefire with Pakistan under pressure from the US) earlier this month, because it had been made outside the Assembly premises.

The Opposition MLAs staged a walkout after the protests inside the House.

The latest breach of privilege motion — the eighth in four years — against Adhikari had been submitted by ministers Chandrima Bhattacharya, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Aroop Biswas, and Indranil Sen, and government chief whip Nirmal Ghosh. The motion condemned Adhikari, who in an odiously communal rant during a media interaction on Tuesday, falsely accused Mamata (whom he addressed as khala, phuphu, and apa — maternal aunt, paternal aunt, and elder sister, respectively, in Urdu) of “batting for Pakistan” in the House and of being the “biggest admirer” of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

On Tuesday, the chief minister and the BJP ended up engaging in a heated exchange that sank to lamentable lows in the House, during the discussion on a resolution condemning the Pahalgam terror attack and lauding Operation Sindoor (anonymously), after the chief minister mounted a scathing offensive on the saffron regime over alleged intelligence and diplomatic lapses.

On Wednesday, Speaker Banerjee said the conduct from the leader of the Opposition was malafide, with the intent to bring the leader of the House (Mamata) and the House itself to disrepute, and that the privilege committee — headed by deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee — would submit its report by the end of the next session.

According to sources on the Treasury benches, the next session was likely to take place in September.

A senior on the Treasury benches said the comments were not only defamatory and disrespectful but also
blatant lies.

“You were present in the House throughout the discussion yesterday, so you know that not once did she utter a word remotely in favour of Pakistan. In fact, she did the very opposite, and rued the loss of an opportunity to take by POK (Pakistan-occupied Kashmir).... Suvendu was not only trying to mislead the media but also the people, regarding what went on inside the House, as the proceedings weren’t aired live. That was a sinister move,” he said.

Adhikari doubled down on the remarks.

“There is nothing they can do to me. I defeated (Mamata) in 2021. I will do so again in 2026.... There is nothing at all that they can do about it,” said Adhikari.