The West Bengal Legislative Assembly is likely to take up a discussion on the violence in Manipur, senior legislators of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) said on Monday.
The monsoon session of the State Assembly began during the day, and the discussion on bringing a resolution on the situation in the northeastern State was taken up by the members of the Treasury Benches. A final decision on when the resolution will be tabled in the House will be taken on Wednesday, June 26.
“We are concerned about the situation in Manipur. The people in Manipur are our fellow citizens,” West Bengal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, told journalists.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, who have been boycotting “all party meetings” in the State Assembly for the past few months, did not attend Monday’s meeting. The proceedings of the Assembly on Monday were suspended after obituary references.
BJP MLA from Siliguri, Sankar Ghosh, said that the State government was trying to divert attention from its failures. BJP lawmakers are likely to bring in a resolution on the violence during the recently concluded panchayat elections in the State.
With back to back resolutions, the monsoon session of the State Assembly is likely to be stormy.
The West Bengal Assembly has in the past held discussions on several issues, including the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the misuse of powers by central investigation agencies.
In another development, a group of intellectuals published an open letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, stating that as the Minister in-charge of the State’s Home Department, Ms. Banerjee could not absolve herself from the responsibility of addressing the violence during the recently concluded panchayat elections in West Bengal.
In the letter, the intellectuals, including filmmaker Aparna Sen, actor Kaushik Sen, former Supreme Court Judge Asok Kumar Ganguly, and social activist Sujato Bhadra, sought action from the State government to end violence. The letter says central forces have to function in accordance with the local administration, and the State Election Commission and the State government would have to take the blame for the violence.
Over 50 persons were killed in the violence during the rural polls, raging from the day the panchayat polls were notified on June 8 to the polling on July 8, and counting of votes on July 11.
In another development, the Calcutta High Court said that central forces may be deployed in the State for another 10 days.
