Kolkata : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday claimed “indecent comments” were made against her and Trinamool Congress parliamentarians, and alleged that an attacker pulled at Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s saree in the Lok Sabha when they were protesting the “injustice” done to the state in the rail budget.
“Indecent language was used against me. Bad language was used against my women MPs. My women MPs faced misbehaviour,” she told media persons at Chanditala in Hooghly district.
Terming the alleged harassment of Trinamool parliamentarians by BJP members as “unfortunate” and “undemocratic”, Banerjee said she was “disgusted” over the happenings in the Lok Sabha.
“The language used against our MPs was unparliamentary. This is not democracy. I am disgusted.”
Ghosh Dastidar alleged that a drunk BJP parliamentarian threatened and verbally abused her. Her version was corroborated by Trinamool Lok Sabha members Kalyan Banerjee and Satabdi Roy.
“We were peacefully protesting inside the Lok Sabha, one drunk BJP MP along with others came and threatened and abused us,” she said.
A visibly angry Banerjee said “dirty abuses” were hurled against her party MPs.
“Whatever happened is very dirty. They (Trinamool MPs) are all shocked. I will speak to my party,” she said.
Banerjee said some of her MPs have been elected for the first time and are very young.
“If they get such a jolt at the very outset of their parliamentary career, that’s not good. Everybody can seek justice in parliament.”
“I have the right to seek justice for Bengal. Similarly, MPs from Bihar and Punjab can seek justice for their respective states. This is a democratic right.”
“But that doesn’t mean they will be beaten up, and their clothes will be torn, and they will be called… This is not fair. I have received messages from Delhi journalists… I am aware of the language used. Silence is golden in this regard,” she said.
Going hammer and tongs at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government, Banerjee said, “Whoever is not in tune with them are being targeted”.
She attacked the central government for the Central Bureau of Investigation questioning former Bengal governor M.K. Narayanan in the AgustaWestland chopper scam.
“Just because we are not in tune with them… they will do this. It is unprecedented how the CBI was sent to Raj Bhavan to question the governor because he didn’t toe a party line,” she said.
The Lok Sabha witnessed unruly scenes Tuesday when Trinamool Congress and BJP members got into a spat inside the house over a protest over the Railway Budget.
As soon as the house met in the afternoon for a scheduled discussion on price rise, the Trinamool MPs trooped near the speaker’s podium and started shouting slogans against the rail budget.
The Trinamool members said the budget ignored West Bengal and demanded that it be taken back.
The members also shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Soon BJP members were seen shouting slogans from their seats to counter the Trinamool members.
Amid the din, some BJP members said something to their protesting Trinamool counterparts and soon senior BJP leaders like Prakash Javadekar and Kalraj Mishra had to intervene to stop the exchange.
The house was adjourned for an hour following this.