Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday gave a stern warning to the main opposition BJP on stoking the communal fire in Bengal ahead of next year’s Assembly polls.

“I will not tolerate insults to any religion,” Mamata said, addressing the slogan-shouting BJP lawmakers on the floor of the Assembly. “Learn to respect the chair of the leader of the Opposition. You are trying to play the communal card. Humanity is above religion."

Imparting a lesson to the BJP legislators on participation in Parliamentary proceedings, Mamata said she always tells her party MPs to ensure that both the Houses function normally. “We have 42 MPs. I tell them not to disrupt the proceedings of the House. The chair is not permanent. Our country is known for courtesy, sovereignty. Everybody has the right to lead their own lives,” she said addressing the Speaker Biman Banerjee.

“When your PM visits the Arab countries, which religion do those people belong to? All your crimes are forgiven. I won’t tolerate insults to any community. When people are in danger it is our responsibility to give them shelter.” As the BJP legislators continued to make a din and tear papers, Mamata said, “If anyone has something to say, I will listen to them. But they don’t want to listen to me. They are shouting slogans. This is not democracy. I respect democracy. I urge the Opposition members to allow me to speak.”

The Siliguri BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh intervened during the chief minister’s speech. “We have heard you. You are talking about the leader of Opposition who is not present inside the House. Your minister Firhad Hakim spoke about killing Hindus.” Asking Ghosh to take his seat, Mamata said, he was not saying the complete truth.

“Our party is very strict on these matters. I have myself warned Bobby (minister and Kolkata mayor Firhad Hakim) not to make such statements. How can your leader say, Muslim legislators will be thrown out of the Assembly? How can he deny the 33 per cent of population in the state? You can’t run Manipur and you dream of running Bengal,” Mamata said.

On Tuesday, the state leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, who was earlier suspended from attending the proceedings, had threatened, Muslim legislators would be “physically thrown out of the Assembly once the BJP comes to power.”

“The Mamata Banerjee government is a communal administration which is behaving like the second version of Muslim League. The people of Bengal will uproot them this time,” Adhikari had told reporters outside the Assembly on Tuesday.

During Mamata’s speech, the BJP legislators kept sloganeering and later walked out.

“She will meet the same fate as Arvind Kejriwal in the 2026 Assembly polls. I should have replied to her on the floor of the Assembly today. If she ignores me, it will be easier for me to defeat her from Bhowanipore,” Adhikari, who was not present in the house, said later.

“The leader of Opposition has been suspended four times, privilege motion moved against him eight times. His only fault is he has exposed the corruption of Trinamul and he is trying to stop West Bengal to turn into West Bangladesh. Their MLAs speak about throwing Hindus into the river. That time she remains silent,” said Shankar Ghosh, the BJP MLA from Siliguri outside the Assembly.

Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose described Adhikari’s speech as “hate speech.”

“Brazen hate speech by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. Just when you think BJP can’t go any lower in flouting the Constitution, it does,” Ghose wrote on her ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) handle.

On Wednesday, Congress leader Imran Ali Ramz lodged a complaint in North Dinajpur's Chakulia police station against Adhikari for his comments.