Scuffle in Bengal assembly, Leader of Oppn hospitalised

Kolkata: Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Abdul Mannan was on Wednesday hospitalised after he had taken ill while being evicted by the marshall from the House which witnessed noisy scenes and a scuffle between Congress MLAs and the security staff.

Mannan was suspended by Speaker Biman Banerjee as he continued his protest with placards against the government for bringing West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2017 and termed it as "black law" while refusing to heed to the Speaker who asked him to wait for discussions on it.

The Speaker then asked Mannan, the Congress MLA from Champdani, to withdraw for the day but he remained defiant and was suspended. As soon as he was suspended, Mannan sat in the Well of the House and the marshalls tried to forcibly evict him, leading to a scuffle between them and Congress members.

The Congress leader fell sick during the scuffle and was taken to a hospital in an ambulance. The Congress and the Left legislators staged a walkout from the House protesting against the incident.

Meanwhile, Congress MLA Pratima Rajak claimed that she was molested by security officials. "The security (officials) pulled me by my saree and tried to kick me," Rajak, the MLA from Burwan, told reporters. The West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was later passed in the House and the Speaker asked the assembly secretary to take note of the benches which were damaged by opposition MLAs.

"Why are they opposed to this bill? Because they (opposition) don't believe in peaceful movements. They believe in destroying public and government property. We will not let this happen," Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said in the assembly.